In the context of the nation’s capital, there’s no pressure like presidential presence.
President Donald Trump, engaged in a high-stakes confrontation with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, has planned a personal visit to the Fed in Washington on Thursday that’s certain to highlight the controversy over costly renovations to the agency’s headquarters.
Trump, a former real estate mogul, apparently wants to see what $2.5 billion can buy.
Trump to visit Fed after attacking $2.5bn building renovation https://t.co/vkRji69SNy
— Financial Times (@FT) July 24, 2025
The renovations, begun in 2021, have gone $700 million over budget, according to The New York Times.
Even by Washington standards, even in the era of Biden administration inflation, that’s a lot of money.
But cost overruns aren’t exactly new to government projects. What makes Trump’s visit so interesting is that it comes at a time when he’s demanding that the central bank cut interest rates to give the economy a boost.
Should Trump fire Powell?
The visit will put a magnifying glass on the Fed’s use of taxpayer money — and by extension, the Fed’s management of the American economy.
Trump has downplayed the idea that he is going to fire Powell — whose term ends in 2026. Still, he’s made it increasingly clear that he’s unhappy with Powell’s performance.
Other Republicans are taking their own action.
On Monday, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a GOP rep from Florida, announced she had referred Powell to the Justice Department for criminal investigation citing what she called “materially false” statements Powell gave during congressional testimony regarding the renovations.
I have formally referred Jerome Powell to the DOJ for criminal investigation.
Chairman Powell knowingly misled both Congress and executive branch officials about the true nature of a taxpayer-funded project. Lying under oath is a serious offense— especially from someone tasked… pic.twitter.com/heXcu2YTyX
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) July 21, 2025
The prospect of a criminal referral to the Department of Justice would be unsettling for anyone. The prospect of the president of the United States — the man in charge of that Justice Department — paying a visit to headquarters in the same week should have Powell quaking.
The issues of the Fed’s decision on interest rates and obscene cost overruns at its Washington headquarters might be completely separate matters, but there’s little doubt that a Trump visit to the building is going to bring them together in news coverage.
And while the Fed was designed to be impervious to political pressure, a presidential visit is going to ramp that up.
In the context of the capital, the presidential presence can do that.
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