A group of White House officials are set to visit the Federal Reserve on Thursday amid escalating criticism of chairman Jerome Powell over renovations to the central bank’s headquarters.
James Blair, a deputy chief of staff to President Trump, posted on the social media platform X that Trump aides would make the visit after chastising the Fed for releasing a virtual video tour of the renovations.
Trump has for months blasted Powell and complained that the Fed has not lowered interest rates, a move the central bank has attributed to uncertainty created by the president’s tariff policy.
Top White House officials have zeroed in on a $2.5 billion renovation of the Federal Reserve’s Washington offices. Powell has asked the inspector general of the central bank to review the renovations, and the Fed has posted an explainer to its website detailing why the project has faced increased costs.
Blair and White House budget chief Russ Vought have led the charge in focusing on the renovations, and the president last week suggested the cost overruns could be a fireable offense for Powell. He has since backed off and indicated he does not intend to fire the chairman before his term expires next May.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday told reporters in the Oval Office that he had called for the Fed to complete a broader internal review of its mission.
“I called yesterday and this morning for the Fed to do a big internal investigation to understand not their monetary policy but everything else,” Bessent said. “That it’s had big mission creep. That’s where a lot of the spending’s going, that’s why they’re building these new, or refurbishing these buildings. And I think they’ve got to stay in their lane.”
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