Exactly one year ago this week, Donald Trump bragged about his authority to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whom the president appointed in his first term. The posturing was not well received on Wall Street. And after Trump saw drops in the stock market, he quickly pretended that he never said what we all saw and heard him say.

“I have no intention of firing him,” Trump said, adding that he “never” had any intention of trying to oust Powell. “The press runs away with things,” the president concluded, referring to reports about his own comments.

Almost exactly a year later, with Powell’s tenure poised to run its course in mid-May, it’s an open question as to what happens if there’s no Senate-confirmed successor in place. Trump believes he has an answer to that question, telling Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo in an interview that aired Wednesday morning that he will “have to fire” Powell if he does not step down.

“If he’s not leaving on time — I’ve held back firing him, I’ve wanted to fire him, but I hate to be controversial,” the president said.

The on-air comments were notable in their own right, but they also stood out because of their timing. The Washington Post reported:

Prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington on Tuesday appeared without warning at the Federal Reserve’s headquarters seeking a tour of an active construction site, escalating their probe of the central bank, according to two people familiar with the interaction and a letter from the Fed’s outside counsel reviewed by The Washington Post.

After interacting with construction workers, two prosecutors and an agent from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office were told they would need prior clearance before gaining access and were referred to the Fed’s legal team, according to people familiar with the interaction who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

The Post’s report, which has been independently verified by MS NOW, added that the developments suggested that Trump’s Justice Department “is not backing down from an investigation” into Powell.

It would be in the administration’s interest, however, if it did back down from this absurd and politically motivated case.

It was earlier this year when the public learned that the DOJ had opened a criminal investigation into Powell. And even by contemporary standards, the whole endeavor was immediately recognized as ridiculous: There was no credible evidence of wrongdoing, and it seemed rather obvious that the administration was targeting Powell because he was on the White House’s growing revenge list.

The pushback to the investigation was swift, broad and bipartisan, with several congressional Republicans agreeing that it was a mistake to pursue the Fed chair with trumped-up charges. In March, a federal judge came to the same conclusion and quashed the Justice Department’s subpoenas targeting the Fed chair.

The same judge added that “a mountain of evidence” suggested that the case was being pursued in bad faith, adding that federal prosecutors “produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime.”

For the White House, there was a silver lining to the developments: Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina has said he’ll stand in the way of Kevin Warsh’s nomination to succeed Powell unless the administration agreed to give up its legal crusade against the incumbent Fed chair. The demise of the case offered an off-ramp that would make it easier for Trump’s handpicked nominee to be confirmed quickly.

But Team Trump apparently doesn’t want to take the off-ramp, choosing instead to keep pursuing a baseless criminal case against Powell. As for Tillis, the president told Bartiromo that the North Carolina Republican “is no longer a senator,” adding, “He quit.”

In reality, Tillis is retiring at the end of his current term, but he remains a senator in good standing, whether Trump likes it or not. Watch this space.

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