President Donald Trump says he has finally found a way to achieve his goal of removing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, accusing him of mismanaging the U.S. central bank's 2.5 billion renovation project.
The push comes after a monthslong campaign by Trump to try to rid himself of the politically independent central banker, who has resisted the president's calls to slash interest rates out of concerns about the administration's tariffs sparking higher levels of inflation.
The president indicated Tuesday that Powell's handling of an extensive renovation project on two Fed buildings in Washington could be grounds to take the unprecedented and possibly legally dubious step of firing him. "I think it sort of is," Trump said.
"When you spend 2.5 billion on, really, a renovation, I think it's really disgraceful," Trump said, adding that he never saw the Fed chair as someone who needed a "palace."
The project has been underway for years, going back to Trump's first term. But it only recently caught the White House's attention. Trump maintains that Fed rate cuts would lower the costs of government borrowing, while Powell has warned that a premature rate cut could worsen inflation and ultimately raise those borrowing costs.