There's civil-war stuff going on in Minneapolis and now we've got this going down in Washington:
The gist from NBC News:
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.
So Powell thinks Trump's DOJ is bringing these subpoenas as a threat to his chairmanship. Trump and Powell, as you may very well know, don't really get along well. Trump wants interest rates lower, Powell wants to assess the situation and move the rates -- which his Fed lowered three times last year -- based on "our best assessment of what will serve the public."
As far as Trump's concerned, he had nothing to do with these subpoenas.
'I don't know anything about it, but he's certainly not very good at the Fed, and he's not very good at building buildings,' Trump said.
Classic Trump!
Asked to respond to Powell's saying the subpoenas were a way for the administration to pressure the Fed to lower rates, Trump said: 'No. I wouldn't even think of doing it that way.'
'What should pressure him is the fact that rates are far too high,' Trump continued. 'That's the only pressure he's got.'
The issue is Powell's "mismanagement of a previously planned renovation of the Federal Reserve building." The White House had suggested over the summer that Powell misled Congress about renovations.
The Fed said over the summer it has brought in its inspector general to review the building expansion. Powell ordered the review following criticism from Trump over the project, which was hit by cost overruns.
Powell has also said the plans have evolved over time.
As for the DOJ:
A Justice Department spokesperson said they could not comment on any specific case. 'The attorney general has instructed her U.S. attorneys to prioritize investigating any abuse of taxpayer dollars,' the spokesperson said.
Is Powell using his and Trump's beef to deny any wrongdoing in these renovation plans, or is Trump using the renovation plans to come after Powell?
We'll probably never know! 😂ðŸ˜
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