President Donald Trump is escalating his pressure campaign to get the Federal Reserve chairman to either lower interest rates or quit his post by targeting the expensive renovation at the central bank's headquarters.
The latest step came Thursday when Russ Vought , Trump's top budget adviser, sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell saying the president is "extremely troubled" that plans may have violated government building rules with an "ostentatious overhaul."
Trump also named two close aides to an obscure commission who plan to review the Federal Reserve building plans - another avenue to increase scrutiny on Powell, whose eight-year term formally ends next May.
This follows a near-daily drumbeat of criticism that Trump has leveled at Powell, whom he has disparaged as "a very stupid person" who should "resign immediately." It's an unprecedented attempt to reshape the Federal Reserve's traditional role as an autonomous arbiter of U.S. monetary policy.
If successful in getting Powell to leave or getting interest rates lowered, Trump will have expanded his influence to yet another corner of American government that was once seen as beyond the reach of political pressure. But he also risks jeopardizing the independence that has made the central bank a foundational player in the U.S. economy.