The Daily Signal 1/12/2026 5:55:53 AM
President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over his $2.5 billion renovations to the Fed building.
But Powell believes the threat is not about his testimony on the renovations to the Senate Banking Committee last June, but 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 said the investigation must be understood under the “broader context of the administration’s threats and ongoing pressure.”
“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,” Powell said. “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,” he continued.
Trump has repeatedly called for Powell to be fired over his refusal to lower interest rates to the amount the president wants, and for his costly renovations to the Federal Reserve office.
The renovations have cost about $500 to 700 million more than the $1.9 billion budget from 2024.
But Trump denied involvement in the investigation in an interview with NBC News.
“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,†Trump said.
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