President Donald Trump renewed his criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, calling for him to resign so that he can appoint a new central bank chair who will lower interest rates.
Trump has been calling for Powell to resign and was asked about allegations raised by some of his allies suggesting that the Fed chair lied in his testimony to Congress about the renovation project at the Federal Reserve’s headquarters. The president was asked during a press availability whether Powell should step down if he misled Congress.
“Well, then he should resign immediately. We should get somebody in there that’s going to lower interest rates,” Trump replied. “It’s OK with me, I think he’s terrible. I think, look, we’re paying – I call him Too Late. T-o-o, too late, like ‘Too Tall’ Jones for the Dallas Cowboys. Too Late,” Trump said.
“He’s always late. But he wasn’t late with Biden before the election, he was cutting them like crazy. It didn’t help too much, did it? But he was cutting them like crazy before the election with Kamala and Biden. He was trying to get them in, I guess. I don’t know, he was recommended by somebody who worked for me,” the president said.
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The Federal Reserve’s renovation of its two main office buildings was initially estimated to cost $1.9 billion in 2019, though the estimated cost rose to nearly $2.5 billion due to “significant increases” in the cost of wood, steel, cement and other construction materials per budget documents The Wall Street Journal cited in a 2023 report on the subject.
At a June 25 hearing of the Senate Banking Committee on monetary policy, Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., criticized the renovation project, claiming that there are “custom elevators that open into VIP dining rooms, white marble finishes and even a private art collection,” saying in his opening remarks the renovations “feel more like they belong in the Palace of Versailles than a public institution.”
Powell later responded during the hearing, saying the Fed “will provide a much more detailed response” and that “we do take seriously our responsibility as stewards of the public’s money, and the other thing I would start with is no one wants to do a major renovation of a historic building during their term in office. Much prefer to leave that to your successors, and this is a great example why – let alone two historic buildings.”
Powell explained that when he was previously the administrative governor of the Fed board, he came to understand the Eccles building, where the central bank is headquartered, had never been renovated and had safety issues, so they decided it was time to address those in an overhaul.
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“I would also say that the media reports that you accurately quoted – they’re misleading and inaccurate in many, many respects,” Powell said. “I would just point to there’s no VIP dining room, there’s no new marble – we took down the old marble, we’re putting it back up, we’ll have to use new marble where some of the old marble broke.”
“There’s no special elevators, there’s just old elevators that have been there. There are no new water features, there’s no beehives, and there’s no roof terrace gardens,” Powell said. “All of the sort of inflammatory things that the media carried are either not in the current plan or just inaccurate.”
“Notwithstanding that, the cost overruns are what they are,” Powell started to reply before Scott cut him off, citing the panel’s five-minute rule for each senator’s questioning.
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Last week, the Senate Banking Committee indicated that Powell and the Fed are arranging a briefing for staff about the renovations at the Fed.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to fire Powell, who he appointed to the role in 2017, over the central bank not cutting interest rates according to his demands.
However, the Fed is an independent agency and the president lacks the legal authority to do so except in the case of a removal for cause. Powell’s critics have suggested he could be removed for cause due to the allegations he misled Congress.
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