Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says his refusal to drop interest rates led to Donald Trump opening a criminal investigation over renovations to the central bank\u2019s headquarters.<\/p>\n
Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell has blasted the Trump administration over a new criminal probe, arguing it\u2019s the latest attempt to destroy the central bank\u2019s independence on interest rates.<\/p>\n
Powell said<\/a> on Sunday that the charges are \u201ca 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.\u201d<\/p>\n The US attorney for Washington, DC, opened a criminal investigation into Powell\u00a0on Friday over the agency\u2019s renovation of its headquarters and whether Powell lied to Congress about the size of the project, The New York Times reported<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n Video message from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell: https:\/\/t.co\/5dfrkByGyX<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/O4ecNaYaGH<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Federal Reserve (@federalreserve) January 12, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked Powell and the Fed for refusing to grant his demands to cut interest rates<\/a>. <\/p>\n He has long threatened legal action over renovations to the Fed building, has said he will fire Powell<\/a>, and fired Fed governor Lisa Cook<\/a> over accusations of mortgage fraud, which the Supreme Court later blocked.<\/p>\n Powell, whose term as Fed chair ends in May, said the criminal probe \u201cis about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions \u2014 or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.\u201d<\/p>\n Related: <\/strong><\/em>What the Fed\u2019s divided 2026 outlook means for Bitcoin and crypto<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Trump has lined up a series of loyalists to potentially replace him, many of whom have said they\u2019d cut rates.<\/p>\n Kevin Hassett<\/a>, a key economic adviser to Trump, is widely considered to be the frontrunner to replace Powell and has said Trump\u2019s views on interest rates will hold \u201cno weight\u201d on agency decisions. <\/p>\n Magazine: <\/strong><\/em>When privacy and AML laws conflict \u2014 Crypto projects\u2019 impossible choice<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n <\/template><\/div>\n Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph\u2019s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently. Read our Editorial Policy https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/editorial-policy<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says his refusal to drop interest rates led to Donald Trump opening a criminal investigation […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":59084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[220],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tien-dien-tu"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n