President Donald Trump attempted to claim that the Federal Reserve had ballooned its renovation to over $3 billion. But Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell fact-checked him in real time on national television.
During a Thursday tour of the building, Trump claimed that the cost was $3.1 billion, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), standing to Trump's right, could be overheard claiming some reports say $3.2 billion.
Powell questioned it, and Trump handed him the paperwork on it. Powell then announced that Trump was including numbers from the Federal Reserve's construction of a new building.
'It’s a building that’s being built," claimed Trump.
"It was built five years ago," Powell fact-checked. "We finished Martin five years ago."
Wallace played the video in the second block of her Thursday show, noting, "I guess the news there is that Donald Trump got Jerome Powell to wear a hard hat. But the real scoop is that Jerome Powell, in real time, failed to be humiliated by Donald Trump by looking, putting on his glasses, reading the document Donald Trump pulled out of his pocket, and making a fool out of Donald Trump for getting his facts wrong about the cost of multiple buildings being renovated."
She said it "seemed like a colossal failure."
Reporter Vaughn Hillyard said very few people push back against Trump on camera. He said that the president is trying to lay the groundwork for Powell to be fired for "cause" as the Fed chair. Trump can appoint someone new in the next six months, however.
Hillyard said that he spoke to Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, asking specifically for examples of the fraud that he and Trump have claimed about the project. Vought couldn't give him any.
"I mean, it's such a debacle for Trump," Wallace remarked. "He should have stuck with nanny, nanny, nanny, I don't like you. I mean, that was ridiculous. I got flop sweat for the president."
See the clip below or at the link here.
- YouTube youtu.be
