WH out of town pool report #3/ POTUS backs Kevin Warsh

POTUS descended the Air Force One staircase at 6.24pm, holding the handrail, then walked over to reporters. First he talked about tonight's rally for Michael Whatley in North Carolina. Then he took questions and was asked if he still has confidence in Fed chair Kevin Warsh after today's decision on interest rates.

POTUS said: "I do. I mean, I'm relying on Kevin, but he's got a very tough board. He's got a board that was put there by a lot of other people. And the interest rates are too high. They're not appropriate. I told Kevin, I said, you might as well vote with the board because it's just not going to matter. The board is very hostile. They're very political. They're doing the wrong thing. They're a bunch of politicians. They are people put on by politicians.

"It's shame because it's too high an interest rate. Despite that, the country's barreled through everything because we're doing so well. But the interest rates are too high. We should be paying the lowest interest rate anywhere in the world because we have the strongest credit. If we wanted to get rid of deficits, which we could do with the swipe of the pen with every country, we'd make a trillion and a half dollars a year. We'd pay off our debt. We'd do all sorts of things. But we haven't chosen to do that. But at some point, we will. Interest rates are too high."

Later, asked again about Warsh, POTUS added: "It doesn't matter because he doesn't have the votes... No matter how good a job, he's got a hostile board... They're raising that only for political reasons, and that's a raise against Trump."

More to follow.

David Smith

Washington bureau chief

Guardian News & Media