President Donald Trump contradicted his Justice Department on the ending of an investigation into outgoing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
"It's not dropped," Trump insisted to reporters on Saturday despite Jeanine Pirro, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, saying on Friday that "I have directed my office to close our investigation" into Powell after pressure from within the GOP. She warned that "I will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation."
Trump downplayed the about-face on Pirro's statement, saying "Jeanine, she's fantastic...but I have an obligation to find out" about supposed overspending on renovations of Federal Reserve buildings.
"How can a building I could have done for $25 million cost $4 billion?" Trump said. "He was in charge. We'll get to the bottom of it."
The Fed's renovation has been confirmed by multiple sources at $2.5 billion, with the Fed citing unforeseen asbestos removal, a sinkhole and rising material costs.
The DOJ investigation into Powell became public in January, sending shockwaves through financial markets, with Powell himself issuing a rare video statement warning that the administration was using legal threats to coerce the Fed into cutting interest rates.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina threatened to block Trump's Fed chair nominee, Kevin Warsh, until the investigation was resolved, giving him significant leverage given the GOP's slim 13-to-11 majority on the Senate Banking Committee. Powell's term as Fed chair ends May 15, though he could remain as a governor through January 2028, continuing to vote on interest rate decisions and denying Trump a vacancy to fill.
