A former top US central banker leapt into the political fray on Tuesday, calling on the Federal Reserve to consider reducing President Donald Trump's chances of being reelected next year.
Bill Dudley, the influential former president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, also said in a Bloomberg opinion column that the Fed should declare that it will not "enable" Trump's trade war by lowering interest rates.
The stunning arguments flew in the face of current Fed officials' efforts to maintain political neutrality despite Trump's year-long pressure campaign to demand easier monetary policy.
Trump last week called Fed Chairman Jerome Powell an "enemy" and on Tuesday tweeted that policymakers loved "watching our manufacturers struggle" to export to markets with easier monetary policy.
The barbs were just the latest of the president's attacks on a central bank he accuses of failing to deliver needed economic stimulus.
Powell has attempted to brush off Trump's near-daily invective, saying Fed officials do not take politics into account when deciding on policy.
Investors overwhelmingly expect the Fed to deliver a 25-basis-point cut to interest rates next month as the global economy slows and the US-China trade war drags into its second year.