Overview

• On August 12, President Trump announced on Truth Social that he is considering a “big lawsuit” against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over alleged cost overruns on the Fed’s headquarters renovation.
• Trump accused Powell of doing a “terrible and extremely incompetent” job overseeing the project and asserted the rebuild should have cost about $50 million.
• Powell responded that Trump’s numbers wrongly include expenses for a separate building finished five years ago and defended the renovation’s roughly $2.46 billion budget.
• Legal scholars note U.S. law allows a Fed chair to be removed only for cause, making any forced ouster legally fraught.
• Powell has said he intends to serve through the end of his term next May despite intensified presidential pressure and ongoing debates over interest-rate policy.