JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. File
| Photo Credit: AP
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon on Saturday (January 17, 2026) confirmed he was not asked to be Federal Reserve chair, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump disputed a report saying he offered Mr. Dimon the role.
Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Trump offered to nominate Mr. Dimon for Federal Reserve chair, although the news outlet added that the JPMorgan boss took the offer as a joke. Mr. Trump, in a Truth Social post on Saturday (January 17), denied that report, and JPMorgan later affirmed the president’s assertion.
“There was no job offer,” Mr. Dimon said in a statement. In an email to Reuters, bank spokesperson Trish Wexler said she should have been “more vigilant” in correcting The Wall Street Journal story before it was published.
Mr. Trump on Saturday (January 17) also posted he plans to sue JPMorgan sometime in the next two weeks for allegedly “de-banking” him following the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.
Ms. Wexler said the bank would not discuss specific clients, but the bank believes “that no one’s account should be closed because of political or religious beliefs.”
“We appreciate that this Administration has moved to address political de-banking and we support those efforts,” Ms. Wexler said. Mr. Dimon, one of Wall Street’s most influential figures, has come out against some of the Trump administration’s policies.
Earlier this week, Mr. Dimon voiced support for the independence of the Fed, days after the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into current Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term expires in May.
Mr. Dimon and top JPMorgan executives have also pushed back on the Mr. Trump administration’s proposed 10% cap on credit card interest rates, saying it would result in millions of households losing access to credit.
Mr. Trump on Wednesday (January 14) suggested in a Reuters interview that he was inclined to nominate either White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett or former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh to replace Powell.
Published – January 18, 2026 08:42 am IST
