Travel pool 16: More POTUS (Bessent to Fed, thoughts on firing Powell, fuller Epstein)

Sorry Powell wasn't in the last report, couldn't hear him well enough to understand POTUS' response in real time. Here's that q, Bessent, q on crypto, and fuller quote on Epstein.

On Powell:

"The one thing I wouldn't have guessed is he would be spending two and a half million dollars to build a little extension onto the fed." Q: Is it fireable offense? "I think it sort of is, because if you look at his testimony... he's not talking about the problem. It's a big problem."

On whether Bessent would be his number-one option for the next Fed chairman:

"Well he's an option. And he's very good. Well, he's not (top choice), because I like the job he's doing. That's why he's not. ... I do like the job he's done. So in that sense, probably not that much of an option. Scott's been great. He did a great job today. He's a very soothing force. You know, he's soothing."

On whether he was frustrated crypto legislation stalled in the House today:

"No. The interesting thing is the 12 votes were votes where they wanted it to be stronger in terms of crypto people. ... those negative votes were because they wanted it to be, the safeguards, they wanted it to be stronger for people with crypto."

Fuller quote: When asked why he thinks some of his supporters are so interested in the Epstein story and so upset about how it's been handled:

"I don't understand why they would be so interested. He's dead for a long time. He was never a big factor in terms of life. I don't understand what the interest or what the fascination is, I really don't. And the credible information's been given. Don't forget, we went through years of the Mueller witch hunt, and all of the different things, the Steele dossier which was all fake, all that information is fake. But I don't understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody. It's pretty boring stuff, it's sordid but it's boring and I don't understand why it keeps going. I think really only pretty bad people including fake news want to keep something like that going. But credible information—let them give it. Anything that's credible, I would say let them have it."

Thanks to WSJ's Brian Schwartz for the help spotting VIPs at the Pittsburgh event. Signing off—have a good night, everyone!

Cameron Joseph

Senior Washington Reporter

The Christian Science Monitor