Free Republic

As President Trump has argued his case against Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in the public square, high-ranking members of the global banking community have rallied to Powell’s defense. Trump’s argument is that Powell is either incompetent or improperly partisan, as he dithered while a Democratic regime spent the country into oblivion and now he’s refused to accelerate needed reductions in interest rates during a Republican administration. In Trump’s eyes, there has to be a reason for that, and it’s unacceptable behavior. On top of that, Powell’s supervision of the renovation of the Fed’s national headquarters (the Eccles Building) has...

Tensions between a president and a Federal Reserve chairman are nothing new. Up until now, they may have reached a peak when Lyndon Johnson shoved William McChesney Martin at the LBJ ranch. Martin gave in a while later, another step into the inflationary quagmire from which the U.S. emerged only after Paul Volcker reasserted the Fed’s independence. However bad that Texas moment, it falls far short of the Department of Justice’s serving the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas on Friday. They relate to testimony given to the Senate Banking Committee concerning an over-budget renovation project and come with the...

In the annals of political lawfare there’s dumb, and then there’s the criminal subpoena federal prosecutors delivered Friday to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. President Trump would do himself and the country a big favor by firing those responsible for this fiasco. The subpoena relates to testimony Mr. Powell gave to Congress in June concerning renovations to the Fed’s office buildings in Washington, D.C. Those renovations raised a brief ruckus over the summer after Administration officials such as Russ Vought of the Office of Management and Budget accused the Fed of running over budget on a needlessly grandiose project. Fair...

Lost in the hysterical media bleating about a new criminal investigation into Jerome Powell is any attempt to report fairly on his alleged transgressions. The singular lens through which the investigation is being reported in many openly and not-so-openly left leaning outlets is that it is Donald Trump’s revenge after Powell refused to do as instructed and lower interest rates. But the aperture needs to be widened to see the full picture: the case is about more than the Chair of the Federal Reserve not bending the knee. It is about Powell’s competency as the nation’s chief money man after...

Powell confirmed in an unusual direct video statement Sunday evening that federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation related to his Senate Banking Committee testimony on the renovation of Fed office buildings.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Sunday that the Justice Department subpoenaed the central bank Friday with the threat of a criminal indictment, the latest move in a yearlong pressure campaign from the Trump administration. Powell said the threatened indictment related to his testimony before the Senate in June about the renovation of Federal Reserve office buildings. "No one — certainly not the chair of the Federal Reserve — is above the law," Powell said. "But this unprecedented action should be seen in the broader context of the administration's threats and ongoing pressure."

Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, The New York Times reported on Sunday evening, citing officials briefed on the matter. The probe is eyeing “the central bank’s renovation of its Washington headquarters and whether Mr. Powell lied to Congress about the scope of the project,” the Times reported, citing those officials. The investigation is being overseen by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, according to the newspaper. That office is led by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, a former New York state prosecutor and Fox News host, who was appointed to...

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell declined Wednesday to comment on the ongoing legal battle between Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and the Trump administration over her role at the central bank. "I see it as a court case that it would be inappropriate for me to comment on," Powell said when asked at the conclusion of the two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The Federal Reserve has previously acknowledged the potential legal feud and wrote in an Aug. 26 statement that the Fed will "abide by any court decision." On Tuesday, the Trump administration vowed to take its fight...

It’s time to call a spade a spadeThe notion that the Fed is some kind of sterling institution needs to be put to bed. This is particularly true of the Powell Fed which has experienced multiple scandals involving criminal activity. The fact that no one went to jail because “laws are for little people” doesn’t absolve the Fed.Let’s wind back the clocks.During the pandemic, when millions of people were losing their jobs, despairing of their futures, and terrified of dying, senior Fed officials were making MILLIONS of dollars trading on insider information based on Fed policy decisions.Specifically, three Fed Presidents,...

The director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency has made the removal of the Fed chair his personal mission.At a meeting with House Republicans this month, President Trump waved a draft of a letter firing the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome H. Powell.The letter, which rattled Washington and global markets, was not written by Mr. Trump or his core economic advisers. Instead, it was drafted by Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who has used his perch and his social media prowess to become the Trump administration’s loudest critic of Mr. Powell.The campaign against Mr. Powell has...

President Trump on Thursday toured the Federal Reserve headquarters renovations, which have ballooned over one billion dollars over budget. Powell is under fire for the cost of renovating the Fed’s DC headquarters. The cost ballooned from $1.9 billion to $2.5 billion. He currently also faces a criminal referral to the Justice Department from Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL). Trump announced earlier that he was joined by Senator Tim Scott, Senator Thom Tillis, OMB Director Russ Vought, Chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Bill Pulte, my Appointees to the National Capital Planning Commission, James Blair and Will Scharf, and various...

Another stunt… Fed Chair Jerome Powell pulled another shady stunt after Trump officials requested a tour of the so-called $2.5 billion in building ‘renovations.’ On Friday Chairman of the Board of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Bill Pulte, revealed Jerome Powell offered a tour of the renovations on Friday night when no one was there. On Monday, Trump officials were declined a request for an on site visit to tour the building renovations and instead were given a “virtual site visit.” “Instead of granting us our site visit, the Fed today released a “virtual site visit” video,” Trump White House...

BREAKING: 🚨 Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna issues CRIMINAL REFERRAL to the Department of Justice on Fed Chair Jerome Powell.— E X X ➠A L E R T S (@ExxAlerts) July 21, 2025

On Thursday, Chairman of the Board of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Bill Pulte, said Fed Chair Jerome Powell may be criminally referred to the Justice Department for alleged perjury about the $2.5 billion building renovation plan. “I am told by very reliable Congressional sources that there may be a criminal referral coming from one or more Congress members to the DOJ for Jay Powell’s alleged perjury about the $2.5BN building,” Pulte said on X. I am told by very reliable Congressional sources that there may be a criminal referral coming from one or more Congress members to the DOJ...

US Fed chair Jerome Powell is reportedly getting fired, Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna said on X (formerly Twitter). “Hearing Jerome Powell is getting fired! From a very serious source,” she said, adding, “I’m 99% sure firing is imminent.” The Trump-Powell tiff This comes amid Trump's repeated displeasure with Powell, which stems from the POTUS repeatedly urging the Fed to cut its key rate, which he says would save U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars on interest costs on the federal government’s massive debt, and boost the economy. The fight has threatened the Fed's traditional independence from politics, though, since the...

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is considering resigning, according to Chairman of the Board of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Bill Pulte. “I’m encouraged by reports that Jerome Powell is considering resigning. I think this will be the right decision for America, and the economy will boom,” Pulte said. President Trump has been calling on Fed Chair Jerome Powell to resign. “”Too Late” should resign immediately!!!” Trump said on Truth Social last week.

Former World Bank President David Malpass criticized the U.S. Federal Reserve for keeping its benchmark interest rate elevated, during a July 2 interview with CNBC. The Fed began raising rates from near zero in 2022 in a bid to rein in inflation. They peaked at 5.5 percent in 2023. The central bank then cut rates multiple times last year, bringing them down to a range of 4.25 to 4.5 percent. Last month, the Fed left rates unchanged for the fourth straight meeting. “The Fed has the rates too high. And the question is when are they going to cut and...

President Donald Trump is lashing out on social media. Jerome Powell is on the receiving end of today's ire. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair who is slowly cutting back interest rates to minimize the risk of continued inflation, is caught in the President's crosshairs after a paltry jobs report. US private payrolls increased far less than expected in May, the ADP National Employment Report showed on Wednesday. Private payrolls increased by only 37,000 jobs last month, a far cry from analyst projections and the worst private job hiring slump since March 2023. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast private employment...

President Donald Trump’s unprecedented tariffs, particularly on China, and recent attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell caused alarm among some of his top advisers and America’s biggest CEOs, who warned of financial chaos and store shelves that could go bare, people familiar with the conversations said. The warnings — and the markets’ own volatility this week — seemed to have broken through. Trump backed down Tuesday from his threats to try to remove Powell from the job, telling reporters in the Oval Office: “I have no intention of firing him.” That prompted sighs of relief on Wall Street. A...

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he has “no intention” of firing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell before his term leading the U.S. central bank ends next year. “None whatsoever,” Trump said in the Oval Office when asked to clarify that he did not seek Powell’s removal. “Never did.” The comment represents a dramatic shift for Trump, who has recently ramped up his rhetoric against Powell and declined to rule out the possibility of taking the unprecedented step of firing him. U.S. stock futures rose sharply across major indexes following Trump’s latest remarks. Trump, who has heaped pressure on the...