The shadow of President Trump’s pressure on the Federal Reserve looms as another senior official, Atlanta Fed President Raphael W. Bostic, announces his retirement. Bostic, 59, will step down in February, leaving his post six years before his term expires.
This departure comes amid an “extraordinary campaign” by the Trump administration to influence the central bank. The president has demanded rate cuts and recently installed his adviser, Stephen Miran, as an interim governor after Adriana Kugler resigned in August.
Bostic’s retirement creates a new vacancy on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the 12-person body that guides U.S. monetary policy. His exit removes a key regional perspective from the Fed’s deliberations.
However, President Trump will not have a say in choosing Bostic’s replacement. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta will conduct its own nationwide search, a process that is structurally independent of the White House.
Bostic, a trailblazer as the first African American and openly gay regional Fed president, was praised by Fed Chair Jerome Powell. “His leadership has strengthened our institution,” Powell said. Bostic expressed pride in his work toward an “economy that works for everyone.”