Senator Elizabeth Warren has warned that Donald Trump's attempts to control the Federal Reserve 'undermines America all around the world', as she outlined a path for the Democratic Party focused on economic policies. Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington DC, the Massachusetts senator and chair of the Senate banking committee criticised the president's latest move to weaken the central bank's independence after the Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into its chair, Jerome Powell.
Warren said Trump's efforts to influence monetary policy were 'terrible for our economy' and that the Fed had been the 'gold standard' for data-driven decision-making. 'Donald Trump is just burning that to the ground and that's going to be costly to the United States,' she added.
The speech, titled 'Future of the Democratic Party, Building a Big Tent Ahead of 2026 Midterm Elections', focused on the need for Democrats to earn trust by prioritising working people over wealthy donors. Warren argued that a party 'that worries more about offending big donors than delivering for working people is doomed to fail'. She emphasised the importance of lowering costs for average families and taking on corporate power.
After the speech, Warren said she spoke with Trump by phone, urging him to support legislation to cap credit card rates and to pass the bipartisan Road to Housing Act, which she said would build more housing and lower costs. She also noted that Democrats could learn from Trump's rhetoric on lowering costs, but said his policies had actually increased them, calling it a 'betrayal to the American people'.
