Trump says he won’t fire Jerome Powell after touring ‘very luxurious’ Federal Reserve renovation
WASHINGTON — President Trump and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell made an awkward pair Thursday as they toured a grossly over-budget renovation of the central bank’s headquarters near the White House — with Trump initally hinting he might fire Powell before saying later he would not.
“Mr. President, as a real estate developer, how would you deal with a project manager who is over budget?” The Post asked Trump after he and a grim-faced Powell approached the press wearing hard hats before examining the $2.5 billion project.
“Generally speaking, what would I do? I’d fire them,” Trump, 79, said as the Fed chair, 72, looked on.
“I don’t want to be personal,” the president added in response to a follow-up question. “I just would like to see it get finished.”
After completing a site tour, Trump approached the press again without the embattled central banker and said he’s not planning to fire Powell — but premised that decision on Powell lowering interest rates.
“That is a big move, and I just don’t think it’s necessary. And I believe that he’s going to do the right thing,” Trump said,
The builder turned politician said it felt “really good” to be back on a construction site — before lambasting the “very luxurious” project and what he said were costly mistakes, such as retroactively adding “very expensive” underground parking beneath historic structures.
Trump has repeatedly demanded that Powell resign for not lowering interest rates, but thus far has decided against attempting to fire him for cause, with the renovation emerging as the most plausible justification for attempting such an unprecedented move.
The president insisted “there was no tension” during his private moments with Powell.
However, the men at one point argued publicly over whether costs now reach $3.1 billion — with the central banker insisting that Trump was wrongfully including the costs to redo a third building.
“We’re with the chairman, as you know. Chairman, come over!” Trump told Powell minutes after entering the site.
“We’re just taking a look at what’s happening. It’s a tough construction job. They’re building basements where they didn’t exist, or expanding them. A lot of very expensive work. There’s no question about it.”
Trump, joined by Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), added, “It looks like it’s about $3.1 billion — [it] went up a little bit or a lot. So the $2.7 [billion] is now $3.1 [billion].”
“I’m not aware of that!” Powell piped up.
“It just came out,” Trump said.
“I haven’t heard that from anybody at the Fed,” Powell insisted.
After Trump handed Powell a piece of paper for his review, the chairman protested, “We finished [a different building included in the tab] five years ago.”
“It’s part of the overall” project, Trump insisted.
The ongoing two-building refresh just north of the National Mall is about about $700 million over budget.
“Do you expect any more additional cost overruns?” Trump asked.
“We don’t expect them. We’re ready for them. But we have a little bit of a reserve that we may use,” Powell told the president.
Trump administration officials and congressional Republicans have circulated claims that the project will cost more than the Palace of Versailles in France when completed in 2027.
Scott, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, sent a letter to Powell on Wednesday requesting detailed explanations on why previously-approved plans were changed and why the costs increased.
The South Carolina Republican zeroed in on Powell stating before Congress in June that there are no beehives on the property.
“There’s no VPI [sic] dining room. There’s no new marble. We took down the old marble while putting it back up,” Powell said last month. “There are no new water features. There’s no beehives and there’s no roof terrace gardens.”
Powell’s statement on the lack of beehives ran counter to his staff saying there were hives as late as April — leading to questions surrounding what happened to the bees.
Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, suggested in a July 10 letter to Powell that the Fed chairman may have broken the law by being out of compliance with government oversight regulations.
“The President is extremely troubled by your management of the Federal Reserve System,” Vought wrote in a letter to Powell at the time. “Instead of attempting to right the Fed’s fiscal ship, you have plowed ahead with an ostentatious overhaul of your Washington D.C. headquarters.”
Powell responded seven days later that the Fed has been careful to ensure compliance with oversight and has “not generally subject to the direction” of the National Capital Planning Commission, but decided to collaborate voluntarily.
The renovation is just one of Trump’s grievances with the Fed head. The president has been needling Powell to lower interest rates, calling him a “numbskull” and claiming his refusal to do so has political motivations.
Powell was first nominated to the Federal Reserve chair position in November 2017 under Trump and assumed office the folowing February. He was renominated for a second term by former President Joe Biden in January 2022 and his term is now set to expire in May of next year.