President Donald Trump has turned his attention back to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Trump publicly criticized the ongoing renovations at buildings, which are currently being probed by the Department of Justice (DOJ). Speaking to CBS News’s Tony Dokoupil, the president said Powell is “either corrupt or incompetent.”
“Powell said late Sunday that the DOJ served the Fed with grand jury subpoenas Friday and threatened a criminal indictment related to his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last June. During that testimony, he discussed the renovations of the central bank’s Marriner S. Eccles and Federal Reserve Board East buildings,” The Hill reported.
“The buildings, erected in the 1930s, have not been renovated since opening. The cost of the project, which began in 2022, has risen from $1.9 billion to $2.5 billion — with the Fed citing changes to the original building designs; higher than anticipated costs for materials, equipment and labor; and ‘unforeseen conditions,’ such as more asbestos than expected,” the article continues.
But Trump believes he could have gotten the job done much cheaper and much faster, saying that “it looks like they won’t open for a long time.” The renovations are projected to be completed in 2027.
Powell, however, is accusing the president of being irate over the decision to hold interest rates steady in 2025 prior to issuing a trio of cuts, and says that frustration is the real driving factor behind the DOJ probe.
“I have deep respect for the rule of law and for accountability in our democracy. No one—certainly not the chair of the Federal Reserve—is above the law. But this unprecedented action should be seen in the broader context of the administration’s threats and ongoing pressure,” Powell claimed. “This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings. It is not about Congress’s oversight role; the Fed, through testimony and other public disclosures, made every effort to keep Congress informed about the renovation project. Those are pretexts.”
“The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president,” the Fed chair continued. “This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions—or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.”
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Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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