The overseer of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac called Wednesday for Congress to investigate Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, accusing the central bank chief of lying to Congress.
In a Wednesday statement, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte accused Powell of lying to lawmakers during testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last week.
Pulte said Powell lied to members of the Banking panel when answering questions about renovations to the Fed’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, which have drawn criticism from Republican lawmakers.
When pressed by senators on the Fed’s alleged $2.5 billion renovation plan, Powell said some of the more fanciful inclusions were part of older plans and have since been scrapped. Others costs, such as repairing elevators that go directly to board member’s offices and marble fixtures, were basic upkeep of features that have always been in the building, he said.
Pulte, however, accused Powell of deliberately misleading senators with “deceptive” testimony and argued his statements were enough to qualify as adequate cause to fire him.
“This is nothing short of malfeasance,” he said.
Pulte has waged an unprecedented campaign from the helm of one independent financial regulatory agency to oust the head of another.
As head of the FHFA, Pulte is responsible for overseeing the financial stability of mortgage organizations Fannie and Freddie and working with fellow regulators, such as Powell, to protect Americans from major financial shocks.
Pulte, however, has spent weeks following President Trump’s lead when attempting to drum up pressure on Powell to resign over the Fed chief’s handling of interest rates.
Trump and Pulte both claim the Fed is hurting the U.S. economy by keeping its baseline interest rate at a moderate level of 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent. Pulte has specifically pointed to slowness in the housing market, where average 30-year fixed mortgage rates are close to 7 percent.
But housing interest rates are just one of many factors the Fed must consider when fulfilling its legal obligation to keep inflation stable and unemployment as low as possible.
Pulte said his campaign against Powell is a natural extension of his job overseeing Fannie and Freddie, which package U.S. mortgages into investment products.
“As Chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, I can tell you that Jay Powell is hurting the housing market by being Too Late to lower rates. He needs to resign, effective immediately,” Pulte said last week.
Pulte, the grandson of one of the country’s most successful housing developers, also has considerable personal wealth tied to the housing market and home construction. He disclosed more than $80 million in assets related to housing, property management, or air conditioning and heating companies in his 2025 financial disclosure form.
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