You overthrow a foreign government, you're terrorizing U.S. communities with militarized forces
...attacking the Federal Reserve Chairman with your DOJ thugs like a mobster should seem well within your sphere of relative impunity.
What's next, America?
Fed's Powell says Trump administration has threatened him with a criminal indictment
WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - The Trump administration has threatened to indict Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over Congressional testimony he gave last summer about a Fed building project, an action Powell called a "pretext" to gain more influence over the central bank and monetary policy.
The development in the long-simmering effort by President Donald Trump for greater control over the Fed had immediate fallout, with Republican Senator Thom Tillis, a member of the Senate Banking Committee that vets Presidential nominees for the Fed, saying in a statement on X that the threatened indictment puts the Department of Justice's "independence and credibility" in question. Tillis said he would oppose any Trump nominees to the Fed, including the president's coming choice of a new chair, "until this legal matter is fully resolved."
Powell revealed the subpoenas and threats in a Sunday night statement.
"On Friday, the Department of Justice served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas, threatening a criminal indictment related to my testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last June," Powell said. "I have deep respect for the rule of law and for accountability in our democracy. No one—certainly not the chair of the Federal Reserve—is above the law."
"But this unprecedented action should be seen in the broader context of the administration’s threats and ongoing pressure" for lower interest rates and more broadly for greater say over the Fed, he said.
"This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings. It is not about Congress’s oversight role...Those are pretexts. The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President."
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/feds-powell-says-administration-has-threatened-criminal-indictment-over-his-2026-01-12/
...like a cartoon mobster, Trump claimed to know nothing about the investigation he's been repeatedly calling for; despite everyone already having witnessed his ignorant attempt to embarass Chairman Powell during a joint appearance that the president set up to put the chairman on the spot for some real estate cost overrun that had nothing to do with Powell, something undoubtedly related to these certainly trumped-up allegations.
Independent, 24 July 2025:
'You just added a third building': Powell fact checks Trump's Fed renovation as awkward hard-hat visit turns tense
Federal Reserve chair wasn’t fazed by Trump’s attempt to bully him in front of press
President Donald Trump’s attempt to shame Federal Reserve Board of Governors chair Jerome Powell over the cost of a long-running renovation to the central bank’s Washington headquarters went horribly wrong on Thursday when Powell had a ready response for the president’s accusations during a tour of the construction site.
Trump said the cost of the years-long project was now “about $3.1 billion” rather than the $2.7 billion previously stated by Powell.
The chairman replied: “I haven’t heard that from anybody” and asked if the paper Trump was reading from came from the central bank.
At that point, Trump handed him the paper and continued talking while Powell pulled out his reading glasses to look. He then told the president that the higher number he was claiming included a separate project that wasn’t part of the renovation at issue.
“You just added in a third building,” he said.
read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-powell-fed-renovation-meeting-b2795600.html
WaPo, December 29, 2025:
Speaking at a news conference beside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago, Trump said “the guy is just incompetent.” Trump first brought up the Fed’s multibillion-dollar renovation project, which at times has become a stand-in for Trump’s ongoing attacks on the Fed system.
“It’s gross incompetence against Powell,” Trump said, adding: “We’re going to probably bring a lawsuit against him.”
Trump threatened a “major lawsuit” against Powell over the summer, but he never followed through. It wasn’t clear what specific claims Trump was referring to Monday, or how or when a suit could be brought. The White House did not respond to a request for more information. The Fed declined to comment.
read more: https://wapo.st/4aHWoOl
Jason Furman @jasonfurman
Some countries that have prosecuted or threatened to prosecute central bankers for the purpose of political intimidation or punishment for monetary policy decisions: Argentina, Russia, Turkey, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
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