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Trump Tours Fed’s $2.5 Billion Renovation in Direct Challenge to Powell

The visit underscored his effort to leverage renovation overruns as grounds to remove Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as Jerome Powell, his nominee at the time to lead the U.S. Federal Reserve, moves to the podium at the White House in Washington, U.S., November 2, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
FILE - The sculpture of an eagle looks out from behind protective construction wrapping on the facade as the Federal Reserve Board Building undergoes both interior and exterior renovations, in Washington, Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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Overview

  • President Trump led an on-site inspection of the Federal Reserve’s Washington headquarters renovation on July 24, joined by Senators Tim Scott and Thom Tillis, OMB Director Russell Vought, Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair and FHFA head Bill Pulte.
  • The rare presidential tour marked only the fourth visit to the Fed’s main building since 1937 and the first by a sitting president since 2006.
  • Trump highlighted the project’s budget swell from $1.9 billion to $2.5 billion and reiterated that cost overruns could constitute “for cause” grounds to remove Chair Jerome Powell.
  • Fed officials defended the extensive overhaul as necessary for asbestos abatement, hazardous-material removal, and modernization of century-old systems amid post-pandemic price pressures.
  • Federal Reserve law, reinforced by a recent Supreme Court ruling, shields the chair from dismissal absent proven misconduct even as tensions over steady interest rates continue.