President Donald Trump on Monday launched a renewed attack on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, accusing Powell of “gross incompetence” and threatening to sue him over the costly renovation of the central bank’s headquarters.
Trump spoke at a Mar-a-Lago press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and slammed Fed Chair Powell as a “fool.” Powell, who was appointed as Fed chair by Trump in 2017 and was reappointed by then-President Joe Biden in 2021, will see his term as chair expire in May.
The president defended his project to build a ballroom at the White House and contrasted it with the Fed’s renovation, saying that, “We’re under budget and ahead of schedule, and they’ve wanted it for 150 years. Think of it. The Federal Reserve building, two buildings, they don’t know what they’re doing. They’re way over budget. I mean, most of this was built during the Biden administration.”
“‘Too late’ Powell, ‘too late,’ because he’s always too late with interest rates, except before the election, it was too early because that was supposed to help her get elected. It had no impact, we won all seven swing states,” Trump said.
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The president went on to say that he’s still considering filing a lawsuit against Powell over the Fed’s renovation project, claiming he has demonstrated “gross incompetence” in overseeing the renovations.
“We’re thinking of bringing a suit against Powell for incompetence, because think of it, these are two – these aren’t outstanding buildings, these are small buildings. It’s going to end up costing more than $4 billion, $4 billion. It’s the highest price of construction, again Democrats, highest price of construction per square foot in the history of the world,” Trump claimed.
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The project was initially estimated to cost $1.9 billion in 2019, though the estimated cost rose to nearly $2.5 billion as of 2025 due to “significant increases” in the cost of wood, steel, cement and other construction materials, as well as the cost of remediating asbestos and lead from the building, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
In August, the president and several of his allies who have joined in criticizing Powell over both the renovation and monetary policy amid a concerted push to get the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates received a tour of the renovations from Powell himself.
During a tense exchange in front of the press, Trump claimed the renovation project cost $3.1 billion and handed Powell a document including that information. Powell noted that the figure included the renovation of the McChesney Martin building, which was completed years ago and reopened in 2021.
It’s unclear where the president derived the “more than $4 billion” figure he cited.
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Trump also reiterated that he would like to fire Powell after alleging last month that Powell has “mental problems” and saying that he would love to “fire his ass.” The president said that the Fed chair should resign, though he could still attempt to fire Powell despite his term as chairman expiring in May 2026.
“Well he should resign. It would be a favor to the nation, but he’s come close. I mean we’re getting pretty close. I would fire him, I would love to fire him, but we’re so close, you know, maybe I still might,” Trump said on Monday.
The president lacks the authority to fire the Fed chair except in the case of a removal for cause. While the president has repeatedly threatened to fire Powell, he hasn’t moved to do so and has on several occasions suggested he will wait for his term to expire to replace him.
Powell, who has insisted he will finish his term as Fed head, has said that attempting to remove him before the end of his term would not be permitted under the law. While his term as chairman expires in May, his term as a member of the Fed’s board of governors runs until January 2028, and he hasn’t indicated whether he plans to resign from that role when his chairmanship ends.
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