Fed Chairman Jerome Powell spoke at the International Monetary Fundâs annual research conference in Washington, D.C., Thursday, but his presentation didnât go exactly as planned.
Powell had been speaking for less than a minute when the feed of the panel (available in its entirety below) showed several people stepping onto the stage just behind him.
Just before the organizers shut down the livestream, but after the video portion of the feed was replaced by a card announcing the â24th Jacques Polak Annual Research Conference,â a manâs voice could be heard saying, âJust close the f***ing door.â
The voice sounded like Powellâs but, when asked about it later, a spokeperson for the Federal Reserve told The Hill, âWe donât have anything on that for you right now. If that changes, weâll be in touch.â
WARNING: The following videos contain language that may offend some readers.
One of the protesters yelled something, apparently from the stage, but her exact words were difficult to make out.
âJerome Powell, by refusing to treat Climate Change like the systemic risk that it is, you are putting us at risk of economic disaster,â she seemed to say.
âOK, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you,â the voice that sounded like Powellâs said in response. âJust close the f***ing door. Close the door.â
At that point someone thought to cut off the sound feed in addition to the video.
The feed remained silent for a little more than four minutes, presumably while security removed the protesters from the venue.
âOf course, climate issues are important, and theyâre appropriately addressed, but as I mentioned, weâll try to keep the questions on the topic for today,â panel moderator Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said when the feed resumed, to laughter from the audience.
According to The Hill, Powell had recently been interrupted by protesters at the Economic Club of New York, making yesterdayâs event the second such disruption in less than a month.
Powell stated, when he was able to continue his remarks, the Fed was ânot confidentâ that it had yet taken sufficient action to rein Inflation in.
âThe Federal Open Market Committee is committed to achieving a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to bring Inflation down to 2 percent over time; we are not confident that we have achieved such a stance.â
You can watch the entire panel discussion here; itâs queued up to just before the point at which the protesters can be seen coming up onto the stage while Powell speaks.
The Consumer Price Index was up .4 percent in the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Annual inflation for the 12 months ending in September was 3.7 percent, according to the same report.
The next inflation report from the BLS is due on Tuesday.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
