Yardeni Research President Ed Yardeni tackles the October Fed meeting on making money.
President Donald Trump launched a new attack on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Monday, accusing Powell of “gross incompetence” and threatening to sue him over the costly renovation of the central bank’s headquarters.
Trump spoke at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hit heavily Fed Chairman Powell like a ‘fool’. Powell, who was appointed Fed chairman by Trump in 2017 and reappointed by then-President Joe Biden in 2021, will see his term as chairman expire in May.
The president defended his project to build a White House ballroom and contrasted it with the Fed’s renovation, saying, “We’re under budget and ahead of schedule, and they’ve wanted it for 150 years.” Think about it. The Federal Reserve building, two buildings, they don’t know what they’re doing. They are way over budget. I mean, most of this was built during the Biden administration.”
“’Too late’ Powell, ‘too late’ because he’s always late on 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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President Donald Trump reiterated his desire to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and criticized him over the cost of renovating the central bank’s headquarters. (REUTERS/Kent Nishimura/Reuters)
The president also said he is still considering filing a lawsuit against Powell over the The Fed’s renovation projectclaiming he has shown “gross incompetence” in overseeing the renovations.
“We’re thinking about suing Powell for incompetence, because think of it, these are two – these are not exceptional buildings, these are small buildings. It’s going to end up costing over $4 billion, $4 billion. It’s the highest construction price, again for the Democrats, the highest construction price per square foot in the history of the world,” Trump claimed.
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President Trump and his allies have pressured the Federal Reserve for more aggressive interest rate cuts to stimulate the economy. (REUTERS/Kent Nishimura/Reuters)
The project was initially estimated to cost $1.9 billion in 2019, although the estimated cost has risen to nearly $2.5 billion as of 2025 due to “significant increases” in the costs of lumber, 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 some of his allies, who joined in criticizing Powell over both the renovation and monetary policy, amid a concerted effort to Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, Powell himself gave a tour of the renovations.
During a tense exchange in front of the press, Trump claimed the renovation project costs $3.1 billion and presented Powell with a document containing that information. Powell noted that the figure also included the renovation of the McChesney Martin Building, which was completed years ago and reopened in 2021.
It is unclear where the president got the figure he cited of “more than $4 billion” from.
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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell fact-checked President Donald Trump’s claim about the $3.1 billion price tag during his tour of the Fed’s renovation project. (Kent Nishimura/Reuters/Reuters)
Trump also reiterated that he would like that fire Powell after claiming last month that Powell has “mental problems” and saying he would like to “raze him to the ground.” The president said the Fed chairman should resign, though he could still try to fire Powell despite his term as chairman ending 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’d like to fire him, I’d like to fire him, but we’re so close, you know, maybe I can still do that,” Trump said Monday.
The president does not have the authority to remove the Fed chairman, except in cases of removal for cause. Although the president has repeatedly threatened to fire Powell, he has taken no action to do so and has repeatedly suggested he will wait until his term ends to replace him.
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Powell, who has been pushing to complete his term as Fed chief, has said attempts to oust him before the end of his term would not be allowed under the law. While his term as chairman ends in May, his term as a member of the Fed’s board of governors runs until January 2028, and he has not indicated whether he plans to leave that role when his chairmanship ends.
