A Southwest Airlines jet heading to Las Vegas from Southern California took a dramatic plunge shortly after takeoff Friday in response to an alert about a nearby plane, sending some passengers flying out of their seats and injuring two flight attendants.
The plane suddenly jolted shortly after takeover then felt like it was falling, said Stef Zamorano, who was flying to Las Vegas with her husband to celebrate his birthday.
In front of her, Zamorano saw a woman who wasn’t wearing her seat belt shoot up and out of her seat, her long hair flying in a tangled mess. The man seated next to her was clutching her arm, and she said the woman across the aisle was panicking.
“She was pretty much verbalizing how we all felt, saying, ‘I want to get off this plane. I want to be on the ground,’ ” Zamorano told The Associated Press.
Data from the flight tracking site FlightAware shows it dropped roughly 300 feet (91.44 meters) in 36 seconds.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the flight, Southwest 1496, was responding to an onboard alert about another aircraft in its vicinity. The FAA is investigating. Southwest said the crew responded to two alerts that required the pilot to climb then descend. The flight departed from Hollywood Burbank Airport just before noon.
Still in shock, Zamorano said she could hardly make out what the pilot was saying when he later addressed the passengers.
Another passenger, comedian Jimmy Dore, posted on X that the pilot mentioned a near miss.
“Pilot said his collision warning went off & he needed to avoid plane coming at us,” Dore posted.
The plane was in the same airspace near Burbank as a Hawker Hunter Mk. 58 just after noon local time, FlightAware shows. A Hawker Hunter is a British fighter plane. Records show it is owned by Hawker Hunter Aviation, a British defense contracting company. The company didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Mike Christensen, an airport spokesman for Hollywood Burbank, said that neither the control tower nor the operations department, which tracks planes departing and arriving, have any record of the Southwest flight plunging in their airspace.
Southwest said the flight continued to Las Vegas, “where it landed uneventfully.” The airline said that it is working with the FAA “to further understand the circumstances” of the event.
This close call is just the latest incident to raise questions about aviation safety in the wake of January’s midair collision over Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people.
Australia announced it will reduce restrictions on U.S. beef imports in a move U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration claimed as a major victory over “non-scientific trade barriers.”
Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said Thursday that relaxing the restrictions designed to keep Australia free of mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, would not compromise biosecurity.
“Australia stands for open and free trade — our cattle industry has significantly benefited from this,” Collins said in a statement.
Trump celebrated the announcement with a post on Truth Social that said: “Now, we are going to sell so much to Australia because this is undeniable and irrefutable Proof that U.S. Beef is the Safest and Best in the entire World.”
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins responded to Australia’s announcement by congratulating Trump on a “major trade breakthrough that gives greater access to U.S. beef producers selling to Australia.”
“This is yet another example of the kind of market access the President negotiates to bring America into a new golden age of prosperity, with American agriculture leading the way,” she said in a statement.
Australia has allowed imports of beef grown in the United States since 2019. But Australia has not allowed imports from the U.S. of beef sourced from Canada or Mexico because of the disease risk.
But the U.S. has recently introduced additional movement controls that identify and trace all cattle from Mexico and Canada to their farms of origin.
US cattle import controls satisfy Australian authorities
Australian authorities were “satisfied the strengthened control measures put in place by the U.S. effectively manage biosecurity risks,” Collins said.
The timing of the new, reduced restrictions has not been finalized.
Trump attacked Australian import restrictions on U.S. beef when he announced in April that tariffs of at least 10% would be placed on Australian imports, with steel and aluminum facing a 50% tariff.
“Australia bans — and they’re wonderful people, and wonderful everything — but they ban American beef,” Trump told reporters then.
“Yet we imported $3 billion of Australian beef from them just last year alone. They won’t take any of our beef. They don’t want it because they don’t want it to affect their farmers and, you know, I don’t blame them, but we’re doing the same thing right now,” Trump added.
Lawmaker fears appeasing Trump endangers Australian cattle industry
Opposition lawmaker David Littleproud suspected the government was endangering Australia’s cattle industry to appease Trump.
“I want to see the science and it should be predicated on science. I’m suspicious of the speed at which this has been done,” Littleproud told reporters.
“We need to give confidence to the industry, but also to you (the public): this is not just about animal welfare, this is about human welfare, this is about BSE potentially coming into this country and having a human impact, so I think it’s important the government’s very transparent about the science and I don’t think it’s even beyond the question to have an independent panel review that science to give confidence to everybody,” he added.
Around 70% of Australian beef is exported. Producers fear that the export market would vanish overnight if diseases, including mad cow or foot-and-mouth disease, infected Australian cattle.
Will Evans, chief executive of Cattle Australia, who represents more than 52,000 grass-fed beef producers across the nation, said he was confident the agriculture department had taken a cautious approach toward U.S. imports.
“The department’s undertaken a technical scientific assessment and we have to put faith in them. They’ve made this assessment themselves. They’ve said: ‘We’ve looked at this, we’ve looked at the best science, this is a decision that we feel comfortable with,’” Evans said.
“When you have a $75 billion (Australian $50 billion) industry relying on them not making this mistake, I’m sure they’ve been very cautious in their decision-making,” he added.
US beef prices rise because of drought and a domestic cattle shortage
Beef prices have been rising in the U.S. due to factors that include drought and shrinking domestic herd numbers.
The average price of a pound of ground beef in the U.S. rose to $6.12 in June, up nearly 12% from a year ago, according to U.S. government data. The average price of all uncooked beef steaks rose 8% to $11.49 per pound.
Australian demand for U.S. beef is likely to remain low for reasons including a relatively weak Australian dollar.
Australia’s opposition to any U.S. tariffs will be high on the agenda when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese secures his first face-to-face meeting with Trump.
Albanese and Trump were to hold a one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit in Canada last month, but the U.S. president left early.
Albanese expects the pair will meet this year, although no date has been announced.
The two countries have had a bilateral free trade deal for 20 years, and the U.S. has maintained a trade surplus with Australia for decades.
The S&P 500 has become a lopsided index, with the Magnificent Seven significantly increasing risk exposure for investors, according to Apollo chief economist Torsten Sløk. As the paths of the Magnificent Seven begin to diverge and the AI bubble swells, Sløk argues it’s time to begin questioning which AI companies to invest in.
It’s time to question the soundness of continued zealous investment in the Magnificent Seven, one top economist warns.
The S&P 500 has become “extremely concentrated,” with the top 10 stocks contributing 54% of market returns since January 2021, Apollo chief economist Torsten Sløk said in a Friday blog post. With the cluster of tech stocks at the top beginning to unravel, he is pouring cold water on continued aggressive investment in the index and in the Magnificent Seven.
“The textbook idea that the S&P 500 gives you a diversified exposure to risk is just simply no longer the case,” Sløk told Fortune. “You are very focused and concentrated in a small group of names, in particular in tech, making up such a significant share of your overall risk exposure.”
The top 10 companies in the S&P 500 now prop up 40% of the index’s market capitalization—more than 30% of which is from the Mag Seven—meaning the fortune of the markets has become increasingly reliant on investor optimism about AI. Alphabet’s AI rally not only helped mint CEO Sundar Pichai as a billionaire, for example, but the Google parent’s earnings beat gave the S&P 500 its fourth consecutive record close on Thursday.
But as the AI bubble swells larger than the IT bubble a quarter-century ago, as Sløk has previously noted, the extreme hype around the technology risks creating even broader economic consequences than the dotcom crisis. To protect one’s individual investments, now is the time to reconsider pouring money into the Mag Seven, Sløk argued.
“One should have some exposure to the S&P 500 and should certainly also have some exposure to AI,” Sløk said. “But it’s very clear that [owing to] the market’s extreme focus and concentration on this story, this is the time to have a conversation around, What are the things I should be doing with my money?”
The Magnificent Seven becomes Six, becomes Five
Mounting concerns over the ramifications of a growing AI bubble coincide with the unraveling of the Magnificent Seven stocks.
“We’re beginning to have conversations about the ‘Magnificent Six,’ maybe it’s only five,” Sløk said. “This is also just telling you that the Magnificent Seven are seven very, very different companies that have very different businesses.”
Popularized in 2023 by Bank of America analyst Michael Hartnett, the “Magnificent Seven” term acknowledged a group of companies alike in their goal of pushing toward an AI future, but these seven firms, once in lockstep, are beginning to diverge in their levels of success and areas of investment.
Tesla has meanwhile failed to deliver on promises of autonomous driving, continuing this week its streak of sales misses and disappointing quarters. Tesla’s stock has fallen nearly 15% in 2025 as investor confidence in CEO Elon Musk continues to be tested.
Nvidia this month became the first publicly traded company with a more than $4 trillion valuation as its stock price surged by approximately 1,460% over the past five years. The company is expected to see strong sales growth, despite increasing competitive pressures.
Ahead of next week’s earnings reports for Meta, Apple, and Microsoft, analysts are continuing to scrutinize the pricing of these companies’ stocks, assessing if there are other options in the tech sector worth buying into.
“AI will continue to have a dramatic impact on all our lives,” Sløk wrote in his blog post. “But the question remains whether the Magnificent Seven are correctly priced, and if they will even be the best AI investments over the next five to 10 years.”
The meeting in Florida, which Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said he worked to arrange, is part of an ongoing Justice Department effort to cast itself as transparent following fierce backlash from parts of President Donald Trump’s base over an earlier refusal to release additional records in the Epstein investigation.
“Ms. Maxwell answered every single question. She never stopped, she never invoked a privilege, she never declined to answer. She answered all the questions truthfully, honestly and to the best of her ability,” attorney David Oscar Markus told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Tallahassee, where Maxwell met with Blanche.
In a social media post Tuesday, Blanche said that Trump “has told us to release all credible evidence” and that if Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the Justice Department “will hear what she has to say.”
Markus said his team was “thankful” the deputy attorney general came to question Maxwell, calling it a “good day.”
Asked if his client could potentially receive a pardon or see her prison term reduced, Markus said: “There’s no promises yet. So she’s just answering questions for now.”
Blanche said Thursday in a social media post that he met with Maxwell and the interview will continue on Friday.
“The Department of Justice will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time,” he said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
The House Committee on Oversight issued a subpoena Wednesday for Maxwell to testify before committee officials in August.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence and is housed at a low-security federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida. She was sentenced three years ago after being convicted of helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls.
Officials have said Epstein killed himself in his New York jail cell while awaiting trial in 2019, but his case has generated endless attention and conspiracy theories because of his and Maxwell’s links to famous people, including royals, presidents and billionaires.
Earlier this month, the Justice Department said it would not release more files related to the Epstein investigation, despite promises that claimed otherwise from Attorney General Pam Bondi. The department also said an Epstein client list does not exist.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Bondi told Trump in May that his name was among high-profile people mentioned in government files of Epstein, though the mention does not imply wrongdoing.
A subcommittee on Wednesday also voted to subpoena the Justice Department for documents related to Epstein. And senators in both major political parties have expressed openness to holding hearings on the matter after Congress’ August recess.
Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, has introduced legislation with bipartisan support that would require the Justice Department to “make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” related to Epstein and his associates.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and the Republican majority leader, Rep. Steve Scalise, both of Louisiana, have said they will address whatever outstanding Epstein-related issues are in Congress when they return from recess.
Epstein, under a 2008 non-prosecution agreement, pleaded guilty in Florida to state charges of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. That allowed him to avert a possible life sentence, instead serving 13 months in a work release program. He was required to make payments to victims and register as a sex offender.
In 2019, Epstein was charged by federal prosecutors in Manhattan for nearly identical allegations.
Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, points to a photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, during a news conference in New York on July 2, 2020.
A voter-backed California law requiring background checks for people who buy bullets is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday in a blow to the state’s efforts to combat gun violence.
In upholding a 2024 ruling by a lower court, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the law violates the Second Amendment. Voters passed the law in 2016 and it took effect in 2019.
Many states, including California, make people pass a background check before they can buy a gun. California went a step further by requiring a background check, which costs either $1 or $19 depending on eligibility, every time someone buys bullets.
Last year, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez decided that the law was unconstitutional because if people can’t buy bullets, they can’t use their guns for self-defense.
The 9th Circuit agreed. Writing for two of the three judges on the appellate panel, Judge Sandra Segal Ikuta said the law “meaningfully constrains” the constitutional right to keep arms by forcing gun owners to get rechecked before each purchase of bullets.
“The right to keep and bear arms incorporates the right to operate them, which requires ammunition,” the judge wrote.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who supported the background checks, decried the court’s decision.
“Strong gun laws save lives — and today’s decision is a slap in the face to the progress California has made in recent years to keep its communities safer from gun violence,” Newsom said in a statement. “Californians voted to require background checks on ammunition and their voices should matter.”
The California Department of Justice said the state needs “common-sense, lifesaving” laws that prevent ammunition from falling into the wrong hands.
“We are deeply disappointed in today’s ruling — a critical and lifesaving measure that closes a dangerous loophole,” the department said in a statement. “Our families, schools, and neighborhoods deserve nothing less than the most basic protection against preventable gun violence, and we are looking into our legal options.”
Chuck Michel, president and general counsel of the California Rifle & Pistol Association, called the law “absurdly restrictive.”
“This case has been a long hard fight against overreaching government gun control, but a firearm cannot be effective without the ammunition to make it operable. The state of California continues to try to strip our rights, and we continue to prove their actions are unconstitutional,” Michel said.
The law remained in effect while the state appealed the lower court’s decision. Benitez had criticized the state’s automated background check system, which he said rejected about 11% of applicants, or 58,087 requests, in the first half of 2023.
California’s law was meant to help police find people who have guns illegally, such as convicted felons, people with certain mental illnesses and people with some domestic violence convictions. Sometimes they order kits online and assemble guns in their home. The guns don’t have serial numbers and are difficult for law enforcement to track, but the people who own them show up in background checks when they try to buy bullets.
John Parkin, president of Coyote Point Armory in Burlingame, California, said the law made it difficult or impossible for some legal gun owners to purchase ammunition. For example, out-of-state residents and California residents with old guns couldn’t buy bullets because they weren’t in the database of approved gun owners, he said.
“It was written to make California gun owners angry. There wasn’t a lot of logic to it,” Parkin said about the law. “I think there are better ways to keep the public safe.”
California has some of the nation’s toughest gun laws. Many of them are being challenged in court in light of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that set a new standard for interpreting gun laws. The decision said gun laws must be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.
Two other California gun laws were struck down in recent years — one that banned detachable magazines that can hold more than 10 bullets and another that banned the sale of assault-style weapons. Those decisions have been appealed. Other laws being challenged include rules requiring gun stores to have digital surveillance systems and restrictions on the sale of new handguns.
President Donald Trump publicly scorned Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday for the cost of an extensive building renovation as the two officials began a tour of the unfinished project.
Trump said the project cost $3.1 billion, much higher than the Fed’s $2.5 billion figure, while Powell, standing next to him, silently shook his head.
“This came from us?” Powell said, then figuring out that Trump was including the renovation of the Martin Building that was finished five years ago.
“Do you expect any more additional cost overruns?” Trump asked.
“Don’t expect them,” Powell said.
Trump said in his career as a real estate developer he would fire someone for cost overruns. The president joked that he would back off Powell if he lowered interest rates.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve, known for its tight lips, structured formality and extraordinary power to shape the global economy, opened up a costly building renovation Thursday to reporters and President Donald Trump.
Trump and his allies say a $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed headquarters and a neighboring building reflects an institution run amok — a belief they hope to verify in an afternoon tour of the construction site. The Fed allowed reporters to tour the building before the visit by Trump, who, in his real estate career, has bragged about his lavish spending on architectural accoutrements that gave a Versailles-like golden flair to his buildings.
The visit is an attempt to further ratchet up pressure on Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whom the Republican president has relentlessly attacked for not cutting borrowing costs. Trump’s criticisms have put the Fed, a historically independent institution, under a harsh spotlight. Undermining its independence could reduce the Fed’s ability to calm financial markets and stabilize the U.S. economy.
“This stubborn guy at the Fed just doesn’t get it — Never did, and never will,” Trump said Wednesday on Truth Social. “The Board should act, but they don’t have the Courage to do so!”
Journalists get rare tour of Fed renovation
On Thursday, reporters wound through cement mixers, front loaders, and plastic pipes as they got a close-up view of the active construction site that encompasses the Fed’s historic headquarters, known as the Marriner S. Eccles building, and a second building across 20th Street in Washington.
Fed staff, who declined to be identified, said that greater security requirements, rising materials costs and tariffs, and the need to comply with historic preservation measures drove up the cost of the project, which was budgeted in 2022 at $1.9 billion.
The staff pointed out new blast-resistant windows and seismic walls that were needed to comply with modern building codes and security standards set out by the Department of Homeland Security. The Fed has to build with the highest level of security in mind, Fed staff said, including something called “progressive collapse,” in which only parts of the building would fall if hit with explosives.
Sensitivity to the president’s pending visit among Fed staff was high during the tour. Reporters were ushered into a small room outside the Fed’s boardroom, where 19 officials meet eight times a year to decide whether to change short-term interest rates. The room, which will have a security booth, is oval-shaped, and someone had written “oval office” on plywood walls.
The Fed staff downplayed the inscription as a joke. When reporters returned to the room later, it had been painted over.
During the tour, Fed staff also showed the elevator shaft that congressional critics have said is for “VIPs” only. Powell has since said it will be open to all Fed staff. The renovation includes an 18-inch (45-cm) extension so the elevator reaches a slightly elevated area that is now accessible only by steps or a ramp. A planning document that said the elevator will only be for the Fed’s seven governors was erroneous and later amended, staff said.
Renovations have been in the works for a while
Plans for the renovation were first approved by the Fed’s governing board in 2017. The project then wended its way through several local commissions for approval, at least one of which, the Commission for Fine Arts, included several Trump appointees. The commission pushed for more marble in the second of the two buildings the Fed is renovating, known as 1951 Constitution Avenue, specifically in a mostly glass extension that some of Trump’s appointees derided as a “glass box.”
Fed staff also said tariffs and inflationary increases in building material prices drove up costs. Trump in 2018 imposed a 25% duty on steel and 10% on aluminum. He increased them this year to 50%. Steel prices are up about 60% since the plans were approved, while construction materials costs overall are up about 50%, according to government data.
Fed staff also pointed to the complication of historic renovations — both buildings have significant preservation needs. Constructing a new building on an empty site would have been cheaper, they said.
As one example, the staff pointed reporters to where they had excavated beneath the Eccles building to add a floor of mechanical rooms, storage space, and some offices. The Fed staff acknowledged such structural additions underground are expensive, but said it was done to avoid adding HVAC equipment and other mechanics on the roof, which is historic.
The Fed has previously attributed much of the project’s cost to underground construction. It is also adding three underground levels of parking for its second building. Initially the central bank proposed building more above ground, but ran into Washington, D.C.’s height restrictions, forcing more underground construction.
Renovation project could be impetus to push out Powell
Trump wants Powell to dramatically slash the Fed’s benchmark interest rate under the belief that inflation is not a problem, but Powell wants to see how Trump’s tariffs impact the economy before making any rate cuts that could potentially cause inflation to accelerate.
The renovation project has emerged as a possible justification by Trump to take the extraordinary step of firing Powell for cause, an act that some administration officials have played down given that the Fed chair’s term ends in May 2026. White House budget director Russell Vought suggested in a July 10 letter to Powell that changes to the renovations in order to save money might have violated the National Capital Planning Act.
Fed staff said there were just two changes to the plans they had submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission, and neither were significant enough to warrant a re-submission of the plans. They removed a seating area on the roof of the Eccles building, because it was an amenity, and two water features in front of the second building, which they said saved money.
More recently, Trump has said he has no plans to oust Powell, which could be illegal based on a note in a May Supreme Court ruling. The Supreme Court found that Trump had the power to remove board members of other independent agencies, but indicated that a Fed chair could only be removed for cause.
Pushing Powell out also would almost certainly jilt global markets, potentially having the opposite effect that Trump wants as he pushes for lower borrowing costs.
Not everyone in Trump’s administration agrees with the president’s contention that Powell needs to resign.
“There’s nothing that tells me that he should step down right now,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, whom Trump has floated as a potential replacement for Powell, in a recent interview with Fox Business. “He’s been a good public servant.”
When asked last week if the costly rebuilding could be grounds to fire Powell, Trump said, “I think it sort of is.”
“When you spend $2.5 billion on, really, a renovation,” Trump said, “I think it’s really disgraceful.”
President Donald Trump listens as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during a visit to the Federal Reserve, Thursday, July 24, 2025, in Washington.
Chipotle CEO Scott Boatwright said the burrito chain needs to work on selling itself as a bargain brand for jittery, budget-strapped consumers. The company reported on Wednesday a 4% same-store quarterly sales decline and cut its guidance for the rest of the year, citing poor consumer sentiment and economic uncertainty.
As more Americans grow anxious about the economy and start pulling back on eating out, CEO Scott Boatwright wants consumers to give Chipotle some more credit for its low prices.
The Newport Beach, California-based burrito-bowl chain reported sagging earnings Wednesday, including a 4% same-store sales decline and 4.9% dip in quarterly traffic. While Chipotle saw a 3% total revenue increase to $3.1 billion, the company cut its guidance, now expecting flat same-store sales growth for the year compared to its previous prediction of a low single-digit increase.
Chipotle CEO Scott Boatwright attributed the rough quarter—Chipotle’s second consecutive sales decline—in part to rocky economic conditions leading consumers to pull back. Chipotle’s same-store sales improved in June, and that’s likely to be the case for July as well, according to the company, but lackluster sales in April and May correlated with “consumer sentiment bottoming around that time.”
Boatwright added consumers have seemingly forgotten that Chipotle, compared to its fast-casual rivals, is a bargain.
“I don’t think we’re getting credit with the consumer today,” Boatwright told investors on Wednesday. “So what I talked to the team about internally is, How do we better communicate our value proposition and center around the core equities of the brand?”
“I think we’ve got to figure out a way we can communicate value for the consumer and showcase the value we are to [quick-service restaurants] and fast-casual,” he added.
Boatwright claimed in the earnings presentation Chipotle is 20% to 30% cheaper than comparable fast-casual restaurants. He told Fortune in April the chain wouldn’t increase prices due to tariffs because “it’s unfair to the consumer to pass those costs off…because pricing is permanent.”
Changing perceptions of value
The CEO was firm in attributing Chipotle’s sales slump to external macroeconomic factors, telling investors, “There’s no smoking gun here that says we’ve had a misstep.” However, he said low-income consumers in particular are looking for value when choosing where to dine.
“Look no further than what’s going on with our competitors with snack occasions or five-dollar meals, and that’s where the consumer is drifting towards…because of low consumer sentiment.”
Indeed, fast-food giants like McDonald’s are continuing to offer meal deals amid softening sales, particularly as these restaurants have seen more traffic from high-income consumers while those on a budget pull away. As Chipotle similarly tries to compete in an environment of cautious consumers, it will need to focus on its public perception and sell itself as an affordable option, according to Raymond James restaurant analyst Brian Vaccaro.
“Over the last two years, the industry has gotten more aggressive on value promotions and messaging,” Vaccaro told Fortune. “There are certain brands that have a strong value proposition in the mind of the average consumer. But they didn’t effectively message that, and it caused them to lose some mind share.”
“That could be something that’s happened to Chipotle, where their value almost gets taken for granted a little bit,” Vaccaro said.
In March, Olive Garden announced the return of its “buy one, take one” promotion—essentially a buy one, get one free deal—for the first time in five years. The restaurant group attributed a modest earnings beat in June in part to the return of the offer.
“Everyone knows Olive Garden is a good value,” Vaccaro said. “But if you’re not reminding the guests of that, they could get distracted and wooed away by all of these value promotions that are floating around.”
Krispy Kreme and Crocs are teaming up to introduce a doughnut-inspired pair of shoes. The owners of that footwear will get a free doughnut on Aug. 9.
It’s pretty easy, if you’re patient, to get a free doughnut from Krispy Kreme. The company lures in customers regularly with promotions for holidays and special events. But if you need a mouthful of that glorious glazed fried dough now, there’s another way to get a freebie: Buy some Crocs.
The doughnut chain and the footwear company have teamed up to offer a limited-edition pair of Crocs inspired by the company’s glazed offering. They’ll go on sale Aug. 5 (packaged in a Krispy Kreme box). And if you strut into any Krispy Kreme location wearing them on Aug. 9, you’ll get a free doughnut.
The Crocs come equipped with interchangeable chocolate and strawberry icing dipped toe caps. Also available will be a five Pack of Jibbitz charms, which include the Krispy Kreme sign, a hat with the company logo, and several doughnut varieties.
To get your hands on a pair, head to participating Krispy Kreme locations on Aug. 4 and place an order or scan the Crocs QR code that will be on display. (You can learn if your local store is participating in the sale at this website.)
“At Crocs, we’ve always believed in comfort you can customize – and now, with Krispy Kreme, we’re serving up style that’s glazed with personality and sprinkled with style,” Terence Reilly, chief brand officer for Crocs, Inc., said in a statement. “Because when it comes to self-expression, we ‘doughnut’ hold back.”
It’s not just a show deal, to mark the occasion, Krispy Kreme will offer a special dozen made up of the company’s Original Glazed, Chocolate Iced with Sprinkles, and Strawberry Iced with Sprinkles. That collection of treats will be available from Aug. 4-10.
So how much will the Krispy Kreme Crocs cost? Good question. The companies did not announce a price.
McDonald’s will begin testing a variety of new drinks at select stores. This comes months after the company shut down its CosMc’s stores, which specialized in unique beverages. The testing will begin in September, largely in Wisconsin and Colorado.
McDonald’s might have shut down CosMc’s, its Starbucks competitor, but the company is still leaning heavily into new beverage offerings.
A report in The Wall Street Journal says the company is planning to offer a variety of new drinks at hundreds of locations starting in September. Included among the offerings will be a range of coffees and “dirty sodas,” which will include things like flavored syrups and dried fruits.
The company plans to see which of the new drinks resonate with customers and then determine how to work them into the menu on a larger scale.
That was, in some ways, the point of CosMc’s. McDonald’s was able to experiment with offerings that may or may not have worked in its main business, without having to retrain its entire workforce and potentially slow down service.
The company opened eight of those stores. They were initially a hit, but McDonald’s gave up on the concept after less than two years.
“It allowed us to test new, bold flavors and different technologies and processes – without impacting the existing McDonald’s experience for customers and crew,” the company said in a statement when it announced the closing. “By creating a Learning Lab – in a way that only McDonald’s can – the CosMc’s team was able to test-and-learn in real customer-facing environments, which allowed for greater agility and speed.”
It added, at the time, that some of the most popular CosMc’s drinks will make it onto the menu at standard McDonald’s.
The 10 new drinks will largely be introduced in stores in Wisconsin and Colorado.
President Donald Trump plans to step foot in the Federal Reserve on Thursday as his allies scrutinize its expensive building renovations, a highly personal and confrontational escalation of his campaign to pressure the central bank to slash interest rates.
Trump administration officials have used concerns about the building overhaul to cast doubt on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s decision-making. They were scheduled to inspect the site on Thursday, and the White House announced late Wednesday that the president would also be visiting.
The visit reflects Trump’s disregard for the traditional independence of the Fed, which plays a foundational role in the American economy by setting monetary policy that is supposed to be free of political influence.
While previous presidents have criticized the Fed’s decisions, Trump’s sustained campaign is an unusual and, his critics say, dangerous departure from the norm. He has called on Powell to resign, insulted him repeatedly and suggested he could be fired.
More recently, Trump has said he has no plans to oust Powell, which could be illegal. Pushing Powell out also would send shockwaves through global markets, potentially having the opposite effect that Trump wants as he pushes for lower borrowing costs.
Trump, a Republican, appointed Powell during his first term, and President Joe Biden, a Democrat, extended his tenure. Powell’s term doesn’t end until next May, and he’s previously insisted that he will serve until then.
Not everyone in Trump’s administration agrees with the president’s contention that Powell needs to resign.
“There’s nothing that tells me that he should step down right now,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, whom Trump has floated as a potential replacement for Powell, in a recent interview with Fox Business. “He’s been a good public servant.”
Trump has criticized Powell for months because the chair has kept the short-term interest rate the Fed controls at 4.3% this year, after cutting it three times last year. Powell says the Fed wants to see how the economy responds to Trump’s sweeping tariffs on imports, which Powell says could push up inflation.
Powell’s caution has infuriated Trump, who has demanded the Fed cut borrowing costs to spur the economy and reduce the interest rates the federal government pays on its debt.
Trump will likely be disappointed again soon. A key Fed committee is expected to keep rates where they are when it meets next week.
The Fed has been renovating its Washington headquarters and a neighboring building. With some of the construction occurring underground and as building materials have soared in price after inflation spiked in 2021 and 2022, the estimated cost has ballooned from $1.9 billion to about $2.5 billion.
When asked last week if the costly rebuilding could be grounds to fire Powell, Trump said, “I think it sort of is.”
“When you spend $2.5 billion on, really, a renovation,” Trump said, “I think it’s really disgraceful.”
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Bondi told Trump his name was among many high-profile figures mentioned in the files, which the Justice Department this month said it would not be releasing despite a clamor from online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and members of Trump’s base.
Trump’s personal ties to Epstein are well-established and his name is already known to have been included in records related to the wealthy financier, who killed himself in jail in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.
Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, responded to the report by calling on Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“We need to bring Bondi and Patel into the Judiciary Committee to testify about this now,” Schiff said in a video posted on X.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the report but issued a joint statement from Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche saying that investigators had reviewed the records and “nothing in the files warranted further investigation or prosecution.”
“As par of our routine briefing, we made the president aware of the findings,” the statement said.
The mere inclusion of a person’s name in Epstein’s files does not imply wrongdoing and he was known to have been associated with multiple prominent figures, including Trump.
Over the years, thousands of pages of records have been released through lawsuits, Epstein’s criminal dockets, public disclosures and Freedom of Information Act requests.
They include a 2016 deposition in which an accuser recounted she spent several hours with Epstein at Trump’s Atlantic City casino but didn’t say if she met Trump and did not accuse him of any wrongdoing.
Trump has also said he once thought Epstein was a “terrific guy” but they later had a falling-out.
White House spokesman Steven Cheung on Wednesday said the reports were “nothing more than a continuation of the fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media.”
U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg in West Palm Beach said the request to release grand jury documents from 2005 and 2007 did not meet any of the extraordinary exceptions under federal law that could make them public.
The Justice Department last week asked the judge to release records to quell a storm among supporters of President Donald Trump who believe there was a conspiracy to protect Epstein’s clients, conceal videos of crimes being committed and other evidence.
In 2008, Epstein cut a deal with federal prosecutors in Florida that allowed him to escape more severe federal charges and instead plead guilty to state charges of procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and solicitation of prostitution.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche had asked judges in Florida and New York to unseal transcripts from grand jury proceedings that resulted in indictments against Epstein and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, saying “transparency to the American public is of the utmost importance to this Administration.”
Federal grand juries hear evidence in secret and then decide whether there is enough for an indictment. Experts say the transcripts likely would not reveal much because prosecutors typically are trying only to present enough material to get charges and don’t introduce the entire investigation.
Epstein, a wealthy financier, years later was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges, while Maxwell was charged with helping him abuse teenage girls.
Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in New York City about a month after he was arrested. Investigators concluded he killed himself. Maxwell later was convicted at trial and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The case attracted attention because of Epstein and Maxwell’s links to famous people, including royals, presidents and billionaires. It also led to some of the biggest conspiracy theories animating Trump’s base.
The furor over records has been stoked by the Justice Department. In February, far-right influencers were invited to the White House and provided with binders marked “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” and “Declassified.” The binders contained documents that had largely already been in the public domain.
The department on July 7 acknowledged that Epstein did not have a list of clients. It also said no more files related to his case would be made public.
A two-page memo that bore the logos of the FBI and Justice Department, but that was not signed by any individual, said the department determined that no “further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.”
Meanwhile, a House Oversight subcommittee voted Wednesday to subpoena the Justice Department for files. The full committee issued a subpoena for Maxwell to testify before committee officials in August. And Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., called on Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, points to a photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, during a news conference in New York on July 2, 2020.
McDonald’s re-introduced Snack Wrap is proving so popular that some restaurants are running out of lettuce. The menu item made its return on July 10, after being cancelled nine years ago.
The return of the Snack Wrap is proving to be even more of a big deal than McDonald’s was hoping for.
The Wall Street Journal reports some locations of the fast-food chain have been running low on lettuce and other toppings since the customer favorite made its return. McDonald’s tells the paper that the shortages were temporary and have been resolved.
The Snack Wrap made its return on July 10 after a nine-year absence. (Franchise owners told corporate that the item took workers too long to make, cutting efficiencies. Some stores defied the menu item’s cancellation, selling them up until 2020, but by that point, they were completely gone.)
While there have been plenty of consumer petitions to bring it back, the company has resisted until this year. On the day the Snack Wrap returned, Placer.ai reports visits to McDonald’s locations were 11.4% higher than the usual average on that day of the week. The traffic surges continued for several days.
McDonald’s might have the OG Snack Wrap, but it’s hardly the only restaurant to offer one these days. Wendy’s began offering a version of the treat in 2023.
The surge in demand for the Snack Wrap brings to mind the 2019 introduction of a chicken sandwich from Popeye’s. The chain had what it thought was a two-month supply of chicken sandwich materials on hand when it launched the product. As social media chatter exploded, it exhausted those in just two weeks.
After that, Popeyes took the unusual approach of encouraging people to bring their own buns to the stores and create the sandwich themselves, using chicken tenders.
A Justice Department request to unseal grand jury transcripts in the prosecution of chronic sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein and his former girlfriend is unlikely to produce much, if anything, to satisfy the public’s appetite for new revelations about the financier’s crimes, former federal prosecutors say.
Attorney Sarah Krissoff, an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan from 2008 to 2021, called the request in the prosecutions of Epstein and imprisoned British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell “a distraction.”
“The president is trying to present himself as if he’s doing something here and it really is nothing,” Krissoff told The Associated Press in a weekend interview.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche made the request Friday, asking judges to unseal transcripts from grand jury proceedings that resulted in indictments against Epstein and Maxwell, saying “transparency to the American public is of the utmost importance to this Administration.”
The request came as the administration sought to contain the firestorm that followed its announcement that it would not be releasing additional files from the Epstein probe despite previously promising that it would.
Epstein is dead while Maxwell serves a 20-year prison sentence
Epstein killed himself at age 66 in his federal jail cell in August 2019, a month after his arrest on sex trafficking charges, while Maxwell, 63, is serving a 20-year prison sentence imposed after her December 2021 sex trafficking conviction for luring girls to be sexually abused by Epstein.
Krissoff and Joshua Naftalis, a Manhattan federal prosecutor for 11 years before entering private practice in 2023, said grand jury presentations are purposely brief.
Naftalis said Southern District prosecutors present just enough to a grand jury to get an indictment but “it’s not going to be everything the FBI and investigators have figured out about Maxwell and Epstein.”
“People want the entire file from however long. That’s just not what this is,” he said, estimating that the transcripts, at most, probably amount to a few hundred pages.
“It’s not going to be much,” Krissoff said, estimating the length at as little as 60 pages “because the Southern District of New York’s practice is to put as little information as possible into the grand jury.”
“They basically spoon feed the indictment to the grand jury. That’s what we’re going to see,” she said. “I just think it’s not going to be that interesting. … I don’t think it’s going to be anything new.”
Ex-prosecutors say grand jury transcript unlikely to be long
Both ex-prosecutors said that grand jury witnesses in Manhattan are usually federal agents summarizing their witness interviews.
That practice might conflict with the public perception of some state and federal grand jury proceedings, where witnesses likely to testify at a trial are brought before grand juries during lengthy proceedings prior to indictments or when grand juries are used as an investigatory tool.
In Manhattan, federal prosecutors “are trying to get a particular result so they present the case very narrowly and inform the grand jury what they want them to do,” Krissoff said.
Krissoff predicted that judges who presided over the Epstein and Maxwell cases will reject the government’s request.
With Maxwell, a petition is before the U.S. Supreme Court so appeals have not been exhausted. With Epstein, the charges are related to the Maxwell case and the anonymity of scores of victims who have not gone public is at stake, although Blanche requested that victim identities be protected.
“This is not a 50-, 60-, 80-year-old case,” Krissoff noted. “There’s still someone in custody.”
Appeals court’s 1997 ruling might matter
She said citing “public intrigue, interest and excitement” about a case was likely not enough to convince a judge to release the transcripts despite a 1997 ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that said judges have wide discretion and that public interest alone can justify releasing grand jury information.
Krissoff called it “mind-blowingly strange” that Washington Justice Department officials are increasingly directly filing requests and arguments in the Southern District of New York, where the prosecutor’s office has long been labeled the “Sovereign District of New York” for its independence from outside influence.
“To have the attorney general and deputy attorney general meddling in an SDNY case is unheard of,” she said.
Cheryl Bader, a former federal prosecutor and Fordham Law School criminal law professor, said judges who presided over the Epstein and Maxwell cases may take weeks or months to rule.
“Especially here where the case involved witnesses or victims of sexual abuse, many of which are underage, the judge is going to be very cautious about what the judge releases,” she said.
Tradition of grand jury secrecy might block release of transcripts
Bader said she didn’t see the government’s quest aimed at satisfying the public’s desire to explore conspiracy theories “trumping — pardon the pun — the well-established notions of protecting the secrecy of the grand jury process.”
“I’m sure that all the line prosecutors who really sort of appreciate the secrecy and special relationship they have with the grand jury are not happy that DOJ is asking the court to release these transcripts,” she added.
Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, called Trump’s comments and influence in the Epstein matter “unprecedented” and “extraordinarily unusual” because he is a sitting president.
He said it was not surprising that some former prosecutors are alarmed that the request to unseal the grand jury materials came two days after the firing of Manhattan Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey, who worked on the Epstein and Maxwell cases.
“If federal prosecutors have to worry about the professional consequences of refusing to go along with the political or personal agenda of powerful people, then we are in a very different place than I’ve understood the federal Department of Justice to be in over the last 30 years of my career,” he said.
Krissoff said the uncertain environment that has current prosecutors feeling unsettled is shared by government employees she speaks with at other agencies as part of her work in private practice.
“The thing I hear most often is this is a strange time. Things aren’t working the way we’re used to them working,” she said.
This photo combination shows from top left, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey, attorney Todd Blanche, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and President Donald Trump
July 20 is National Ice Cream Day. Fans of the dessert have plenty of options to get a free cone or discounts on their favorite flavors.
You scream. I scream. We all scream … well, maybe because of that ice cream headache that just kicked in.
It’s National Ice Cream Day, another of the food industry’s holidays, but one that scoop shops across the country are happy to use as a marketing tool – and one that means lots and lots of free ice cream for lovers of the frozen dessert.
July is actually Ice Cream Month. This particular holiday is celebrated each year, however, on the third Sunday of July. And, incredibly, this is a food holiday that has the backing on Washington.
In 1984, a joint resolution was presented in the U.S. House and Senate to celebrate both ice cream month and declare ice cream day. It passed easily and on July 9, 1984, Ronald Reagan made it official with a presidential proclamation. (The bill was only supposed to be for that year, but … hey, free ice cream!)
Willing to risk the cavities and brain freeze? Here’s where you can get some freebies and discounts today.
Baskin-Robbins
Rewards members can get $5 off for orders of $20 or more.
Marble Slab Creamery
Loyalty members will receive a free small ice cream. Better still, you’ll have seven days to redeem the code, so you can fill up on other freebies, then come back for this one in a day or two.
Halo Top
If your first, middle, or last name matches one found any iconic ice cream brand—think Ben, Jerry, Jeni, Baskin, Robbins, Blue, Dreyer, Edy, Häagen, Dazs, Kemps, Nick, Oatly, Talenti, Tillamook, Hill, or Van Leeuwen—then you’ll get a free pint of Halo Top. Head to HaloTop.com/IceCreamDay to make your claim and find a full list of qualifying names.
Stop & Shop
The grocery chain is giving away free 1.5-quart tubs of its store brand ice cream. No purchase necessary. Pick from 15 classic flavors including Moose Tracks, Cookies & Cream, and Vanilla Bean.
Wendy’s
Some people might argue it’s technically not ice cream, but you can grab a free small Frosty with any purchase made in the Wendy’s app today.
Dippin’ Dots
Get a free mini cup of any flavor during a two-hour window at franchise locations. (Head here to find the two hours in the locations nearest to you.)
Jeni’s
The chain will serve a new Sundae Fudge Sauce, a rich chocolate sauce with a hint of sea salt, for free with any scoop shop order.
For President Donald Trump, whose political career has benefited from voter anxiety over Washington elites, the health of his predecessor and the riches of Wall Street, the past week offered a reversal of fortune.
Trump’s efforts to escape the uproar over Jeffrey Epstein failed spectacularly, after the Wall Street Journal published a story alleging he once sent a suggestive birthday letter to the disgraced financier — a claim the president denied.
The White House was forced to make a rare disclosure that Trump wasn’t in perfect health. And Trump whipsawed on the fate of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, signaling to lawmakers that he would attempt to fire him before relenting after concern about a market backlash.
Now, as Trump gears up for a high-profile trip to the UK next week to finalize a trade deal with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, he finds himself looking slightly vulnerable.
There was much Trump hoped to harness in what he called a “week of wins” — passage of his flagship tax-cut package earlier this month, approval of spending cuts this week, a run of favorable economic data, the signing of a stablecoin bill, and implementation of his aggressive tariff agenda.
Instead, there were suddenly a few punctures in the armor of a president who at times in his second term has seemed irrepressible as he bent rival institutions, countries, and political opponents to his will.
Trump concluded the week posting angrily to social media and suing one of his top allies in the press, Rupert Murdoch, along with Dow Jones & Co. and News Corp. for libel.
The Journal reported Thursday that Trump had prepared a letter for a book compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday. The president said the letter was “FAKE” and called the story “false, malicious, and defamatory.”
Still, the report threw gasoline on a simmering fire, particularly among members of Trump’s base, after the Justice Department claimed it had no evidence that Epstein had blackmailed political figures or kept a client list. That conclusion flew in the face of promises from some of the president’s top aides that they would reveal substantial new details about a case many Trump loyalists see as a smoking gun proving the existence of a so-called Deep State.
‘Weaklings’
Trump supporters and FBI leaders Kash Patel and Dan Bongino are said to be at odds with Attorney General Pam Bondi, while the president has repeatedly tried — and so far failed — to quell the furor.
“Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?” he barked at a reporter earlier this month. “People still talking about this guy, this creep? That is unbelievable.”
This week, he dismissed questions from his base and said those worried about Epstein are “weaklings” and that “I don’t want their support anymore!”
But what was once a potent political tool for Trump — stoking conspiracies about Epstein, and Democrats’ involvement — has now backfired, with his own supporters frustrated that his administration may be covering up details they hoped would be released.
“The emphasis on Epstein is truly the best intentions of your most loyal followers,” Charlie Kirk, a conservative media figure, said in a segment on his show addressed to the president. He said the Epstein case was a sort of linchpin in loyal Trump supporters’ questions about the alleged Deep State.
After the release of the Journal story, Trump moved quickly. He directed Bondi to pursue the release of some grand jury transcripts related to the case, though that stopped short of the full release of materials his allies have demanded.
‘Same Scam’
Separately, Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, directed the declassification of materials from the Obama administration that she argued showed evidence the former president and aides sought to politicize intelligence around Russia’s role in the 2016 election.
Trump has repeatedly drawn an equivalence between the Russia controversy and the Epstein case, suggesting both amounted to conspiracy-mongering by his political opponents. A special counsel ultimately did not find evidence Trump had coordinated with the Kremlin to interfere with the 2016 contest.
“It’s all the same scam,” Trump told Real America’s Voice in an interview that aired Wednesday.
The Epstein saga is a rare example of Trump struggling to successfully shift the narrative or change subjects in the news, according to one Trump ally, speaking on condition of anonymity. The ally predicted the matter would fizzle out by next year’s elections but criticized the White House’s move in February to hand right-wing influencers a binder called “The Epstein Files” that was largely a rehash of previously released information.
It even overshadowed the president’s escalating campaign against Powell, which has threatened to undermine longstanding conventions about Federal Reserve independence. Trump mused about dismissing Powell in a Tuesday meeting with lawmakers, with one White House official saying on condition of anonymity they expected the president to act soon to fire the central bank chief.
For Trump, his war against Powell serves an important political function, giving voice to homebuyers and borrowers who see lending costs impacting their wallets. But by Wednesday, Trump said he wouldn’t remove Powell unless the Fed chair was forced out for fraud, nodding to increasing efforts by the president’s allies to pressure the chairman over questions about a bank renovation project.
‘Winning Everywhere’
Trump backed off his push to force Powell out in part because of warnings that it would trigger a messy legal fight, according to one person familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The issues are distracting from what the White House wants to steer attention to: a winning streak that includes passage of a package of spending cuts and the stablecoin bill Trump signed Friday.
“We’re winning everywhere,” Trump said at a signing ceremony for the stablecoin legislation. “It’s not even close — not even close — and we’re going to keep it going.”
Even as Trump has notched long-sought policy victories — extending his tax-cut package, gutting government agencies and securing funding for his sweeping immigration crackdown — Republicans know that each carries substantial political risk and that he’ll need to focus on selling his agenda.
Democrats have seized on provisions curtailing Medicaid eligibility and tax cuts benefiting the wealthy, to sharpen their economic critique of Trump. And Trump is now two weeks away from his next tariff barrage due on Aug. 1.
The president has batted away economists’ warnings that his tariffs will threaten growth, upend supply chains and amount to a fresh tax on consumers.
As President Donald Trump continues to put pressure on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, an earlier standoff between the two men could offer clues on how their current one might play out. In 2019, like today, Trump demanded the central bank hurry up and cut rates, raising questions about Powell’s future as Fed chief and whether he would step down.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signaled in 2019 that he would rather go down with the ship than save his own skin and compromise the independence of the central bank.
As President Donald Trump continues to put pressure on Powell, an earlier standoff between the two men could offer clues on how their current one might play out.
In 2019, like today, Trump demanded the Fed hurry up and cut rates amid a trade war he had launched, raising questions about Powell’s future as Fed chief and whether he would step down.
During a House Financial Services Committee hearing in July of that year, Powell was asked by then-Chairwoman Maxine Waters, “If you get a call from the president today or tomorrow and he said ‘I’m firing you. Pack up and it’s time to go.’ What would you do?”
“Of course I would not do that,” Powell replied.
“I can’t hear you,” Waters said, prompting laughter in the chamber.
“The answer would be ‘no,’” Powell reiterated.
“You think the president doesn’t have the authority. Is that why you would not leave?” Waters asked.
“The law clearly gives me a four-year term, and I fully intend to serve it,” Powell said.
According to the 2022 book Trillion Dollar Triage by Wall Street Journal reporter Nick Timiraos, he was even more adamant in private about not stepping down early.
“I will never, ever, ever leave this job voluntarily until my term ends under any circumstances. None whatsoever. You will not see me getting in the lifeboat,” Powell told a reporter that spring. “It doesn’t occur to me in the slightest that there would be any situation in which I would not complete my term other than dying.”
For Powell, who was first appointed Fed chief by Trump, the top priority was to ensure the U.S. economy continued to expand but also to preserve the Fed as an institution, including its independence, according to the book.
Weeks after that House hearing, the Fed lowered rates a quarter point, but Trump kept haranguing and insulting Powell, calling for even more easing.
Given that history, Powell’s tenure became an issue again after Trump was re-elected. In November, Powell was asked whether he would step down if asked by Trump. He replied no, adding later that it’s “not permitted under the law” for the president to fire or demote him or any other Fed governors in leadership positions.
Months later, Trump imposed sweeping tariffs across U.S. trading parters, raising fears of stagflation—weak economic growth coupled with high inflation. While inflation hasn’t spiked yet and growth remains intact, the Fed has held off on lowering rates, drawing the ire of Trump.
On Wednesday, Trump said it was “highly unlikely” that he would fire Powell, while confirming that he had discussed the “concept” of dismissing him with House Republicans during a White House meeting Tuesday night.
Still, Trump and other White House officials have continued to attack Powell over renovations at the Fed’s headquarters, accusing him of mismanagement.
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a longtime critic of Powell, suggested the renovation issue was “a pretext to get him fired.” Meanwhile, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and other chiefs at top banks said this past week that central bank independence is crucial to the economy and financial markets.
Historically, the board chair has also been FOMC chair, but the law allows the FOMC to determine its own internal organization. So it’s possible one person could serve as Fed board chair, and a different person could serve as FOMC chair.
On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said moves to replace Powell are under way and suggested that he should consider stepping down from the Fed entirely once his chairmanship ends.
“Traditionally, the Fed chair also steps down as a governor,” he told Bloomberg. “There’s been a lot of talk of a shadow Fed chair causing confusion in advance of his or her nomination. And I can tell you, I think it’d be very confusing for the market for a former Fed chair to stay on also.”
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