President Trump claimed Sunday night to have no knowledge of an investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell that has led to the Justice Department subpoenaing the central bank and threatening to indict Powell for lying to Congress.
“I don’t know anything about it, but he’s certainly not very good at the Fed, and he’s not very good at building buildings,” the president told NBC News in a brief interview.
Powell, 72, sent shockwaves through the world economy late Sunday when he issued a statement confirming the subpoenas and indictment threat.
The Fed chair had been grilled by the Senate Banking Committee this past June about an ongoing $2.5 billion renovation of the central bank’s DC headquarters, a project that was first revealed by The Post in April and described by one former board member as “the Palace of Versailles on the National Mall.”
Powell had denied that the revamp included luxury features laid out in the project’s own planning documents, which were approved in 2021.
“There’s no VIP dining room, there’s no new marble. There are no special elevators,” the Fed chair said under oath June 25. “There are no new water features, there’s no beehives, and there’s no roof terrace gardens.”
The following month, Trump himself toured the construction site with Powell, with the pair incongrously donning business suits and hard hats to take questions from the press.
At one point, the men argued publicly over whether the cost of the project was actually $3.1 billion — with Powell insisting that Trump was incorrectly including the costs to redo an additional building.
On Dec. 29, Trump griped that the renovation was going to cost more than $4 billion in total, and threatened to sue Powell for “gross incompetence.”
The president has publicly and repeatedly criticized Powell for being slow to lower interest rates, and the Fed chair claimed Sunday night the investigation was “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.
“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,” Powell went on.
Trump told NBC that was not the case, saying: “I wouldn’t even think of doing it that way. What should pressure him is the fact that rates are far too high. That’s the only pressure he’s got.
“He’s hurt a lot of people,” he added. “I think the public is pressuring him.”
Powell’s term as chairman is up in May and Trump is expected to announce a replacement in the coming weeks. After leaving his post as chair, Powell is set to remain on the Fed Board of Governors through 2028.
