Janet Yellen called Powell's stewardship of the Fed's independence "close to exemplary" at a retrospective hosted at the Brookings Institution on Tuesday. Resisting recent pressure "required a kind of steadiness that good monetary policy judgment alone does not provide, and Jay Powell had that steadiness in abundance." She outlined why she doesn't think it's enough to say the central bank's independence is up to the central bank. "The Fed cannot defend itself alone." She said the past several years have been "alarming and ultimately somewhat reassuring" that a broader coalition, "slow and imperfect as it is, exists, and can be rallied." Video: https://youtu.be/SJKj-KrAeA0?t=9863(Nick Timiraos)