Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell called out President Donald Trump’s claims about the cost of the Federal Reserve renovations to his face on Thursday.
It was a bizarre scene at the Fed headquarters as the president appeared alongside Powell to tour the renovation project, both wearing hard hats.
The president has attacked the Central Bank chief as “stupid,” “dummy,” and a “knucklehead” in recent months and even suggested he was guilty of fraud for the ballooning cost of ongoing Federal Reserve renovations, but Trump chickened out of criticizing Powell in person.

“It looks like it’s about $3.1 billion, it went up a little bit or a lot,” Trump claimed. “So the $2.7 [billion] is now $3.1.”
As the president spoke, Powell shook his head to show he disagreed with the president’s remarks.
“I’m not aware of that, Mr. President,” Powell said.
“Yeah, it just came out,” Trump responded, pulling a piece of paper out of his breast pocket.
“I haven’t heard that from anybody at the Fed,” the chair said before taking the piece of paper from the president to examine.
After looking over the page with a confused look on his face, Powell realized why the numbers were not adding up.
“You’re including the Martin renovation,” Powell said. “You just added in a third building is what that is.”
“It’s a building that’s being built,” the president responded.
“No, it was built five years ago. We finished Martin five years ago,” Powell shot back.
“It’s part of the overall work,” Trump said to the camera, but the chair cut in, saying: “It’s not new.” The Martin building reopened in 2021.

The uncomfortable side-by-side appearance came as the president has been waging a public war on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates and recently suggested Powell had committed fraud in connection with the renovations.
The president asked Powell if he expects any more unexpected costs, which the Fed chair denied. He said he expects the renovations to be finished in 2027.
A president visiting the Federal Reserve headquarters in general is unusual. The last one to do so was President George W. Bush back in 2006 when he attended the swearing-in ceremony of Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke.
While Trump has repeatedly blasted Powell on social media, including as recently as Wednesday, he did not attack Powell to his face. Asked by a reporter if an over-budget renovation was cause to fire Powell, Trump didn’t take the bait.
“I’m here just really with the chairman. He’s showing us around, showing us the work,” Trump said. “I don’t want to be personal. We’d like to see it get finished.”
A reporter asked Trump if there was anything Powell could say that would get the president to back off after his series of nasty attacks in recent months.
“Well, I’d love him to lower interest rates,” Trump said jokingly as he slapped Powell on the back. “Other than that what can I tell you?”
Powell laughed awkwardly in response.

The president was much more subdued than he had been while going after Powell, speaking from the White House and in posts on social media.
He called Powell names on Truth Social as recently as Wednesday.
“Housing in our Country is lagging because Jerome “Too Late” Powell refuses to lower Interest Rates. Families are being hurt because Interest Rates are too high, and even our Country is having to pay a higher Rate than it should be because of ‘Too Late,’" Trump wrote.

He slammed Powell, saying: “This stubborn guy at the Fed just doesn’t get it — Never did, and never will.” He also accused the board of not having the courage to act. In a separate post last week, Trump called Powell “truly one of my worst appointments.”
Last week, the president denied he would try to fire Powell after rumors went wild following the president’s meeting with GOP lawmakers.
During that meeting, the president said he polled members over whether they believed the Central Bank head should be fired, and they all supported it, but he held off.
“I don’t rule out anything, but I think it’s highly unlikely,” Trump said, before suggesting Powell may have committed fraud.
“It’s possible there’s fraud involved with the $2.5-$2.7 billion renovation,” the president said. “It’s a renovation. How do you spend $2.7 billion?”

The renovation includes two buildings on the National Mall that were first constructed in the 1930s. Neither have had a comprehensive renovation since they were constructed, according to the Fed. The plans were first approved in 2017 and construction has been ongoing since the project broke ground in 2022.
However, the initial estimate of the project was $1.9 billion before it ballooned to $2.5 billion amid unexpected complications, including the surging cost of construction in recent years.
The renovations include significant structural repairs for both buildings, such as the removal of asbestos and lead contamination, as well as replacing old electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, according to the Fed.
As the project faces accusations of extravagance, they’ve pushed back that no new VIP dining rooms were being constructed, though conference rooms were being renovated. They also denied the construction of a “VIP elevator,” noting that original elevators are being rehabilitated.
An independent inspector general conducted an audit in 2021 to assess the process for planning and managing the renovations.
Powell also said earlier this month that he requested another review by the Fed inspector general of the costs associated with the renovation as criticism by the Trump administration escalated.
Other officials who tagged along for the tour were Sen. Tim Scott, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, as well as Trump budget chief Russ Vought.