MaddowBlog-GOP senator gives the Fed's Powell bad advice, urges him to resign as part of a 'deal'

[LetMyPeopleVote]

As Jerome Powell faces a baseless criminal probe, Sen. Kevin Cramer encouraged him to reach an agreement that sounds an awful lot like extortion.

Link to tweet

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/gop-senator-gives-the-feds-powell-bad-advice-urges-him-to-resign-as-part-of-a-deal

But one GOP lawmaker offered a different kind of response to the developments. The Hill reported:

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) on Tuesday suggested Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell should resign to avoid indictment.

‘If you’re the attorney for Jay Powell and you want to avoid an indictment, how about you go to Jeanine Pirro and say, ‘I’ll make a deal. I’ll step down today, if you’ll drop the investigation today.’ To me, that would be a win-win for everybody,’ Cramer told Fox Business Network’s Larry Kudlow on his show.

A day later, the North Dakota Republican appeared on CNBC to reiterate his support for the proposed deal and said such an arrangement would be a “elegant” solution.

EISEN: Didn't you admit what Trump is doing to Powell is coercion?

CRAMER: It's no secret he would like Powell out. So would I. This would be an elegant way out

E: You think it'd be 'elegant' for Fed chair under threat of indictment to step down? That doesn't sound elegant

C: Ok. So you disagree

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-01-14T16:59:24.208Z

.....I’d encourage the North Dakotan to consider an alternative hypothetical scenario: Imagine a future Democratic president really wants Cramer to resign from the Senate. When the lawmaker refuses, the Democratic administration opens an obviously pretextual criminal investigation into him.

Despite widespread condemnation, some Senate Democrat appears on national television and says, “If you’re the attorney for Kevin Cramer and you want to avoid an indictment, how about you go to prosecutors and say, ‘I’ll make a deal. I’ll step down today, if you’ll drop the investigation today.’ To me, that would be a win-win for everybody.”

I have a hunch Cramer wouldn’t consider that sound advice, and yet such is precisely the advice he has twice offered Powell.