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The remarkable display of President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell touring the central bank in hard hats on Thursday was followed by another rare moment: Trump sounding almost cautious.
Trump and several senior GOP officials visited the Fed for a tour of its pricey renovation, which has sparked Republican division and open speculation about whether the president might use it as a rationale for firing the chair before his term is up next spring.
After the tour, even as his aides promised to keep up their investigations, Trump stopped short of declaring he’d seen immediate evidence of gross mismanagement. He suggested, in a measured fashion, that he would have handled parts of the project differently.
He pushed back on the idea that the meeting with Powell was tense, describing it as “good” and adding that he doesn’t “think it’s necessary” to fire the chair — a move that would likely spark a protracted legal battle and roil financial markets.
“It’s a tough construction job,” Trump said upon arriving. Asked what might make him back off Powell, the president offered a reply that hinted at the deeper motivations behind the renovation flap: “Well, I’d love him to lower interest rates! Other than that, what can I tell you?”
Trump and Powell were joined by White House deputy chief of staff James Blair, National Capitol Planning Commission chairman Will Scharf, and Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott, among others. Their walk-through came as Trump and his allies channel his growing frustrations with unchanged interest rates into scrutiny of the $2.5 billion renovation.
“I see a very luxurious situation taking place, let’s put it that way,” Trump said. “There’s always Monday morning quarterbacks. I don’t want to be that. I want to help them get it finished.”
Some Trump aides took a more aggressive tack toward the Fed. Back at the White House, Blair told reporters that “the cost overrun is massive.” Vought said there was “a lot of progress” made during the visit — but promised the administration plans to “keep at it.”
“The president was very clear, interest rates need to come down,” Vought told reporters. “We’re going to keep asking the questions. A lot of fiscal things that we could have done better, a lot cheaper.”
The central bank has declined to lower interest rates this year as it faces heightened uncertainty surrounding Trump’s tariff policy. Policymakers are expected to hold that course at their rate-setting meeting next week.
A Trump move to axe Powell, notably, would not guarantee a pivot at the central bank, where the chair must work with other members on policies.
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The visit wasn’t entirely diplomatic. Trump and Powell appeared together upon arriving at the site and immediately began sparring over the costs. The president told reporters the renovation recently increased in cost to $3.1 billion, as Powell shook his head and said he wasn’t “aware of” that new cost.
The president then handed Powell a piece of paper, prompting the bank chief to reply that Trump had “added in a third building” to his estimate of the total costs.
“It was built five years ago,” Powell said, as Trump argued that “it’s part of the overall work.” Blair later said Powell was “splitting hairs.”
The central bank has updated its website with new information about the project, including a video tour and annotated images from its approved plan. Fed staff, who gave a small group of journalists a tour of the construction site Thursday, said the project is on track for completion in 2027.
Central bank staff also told reporters that tariffs and inflation helped drive up the price of the project — and that security measures were a big reason why it was so expensive to start with, according to a pool report shared with Semafor.
The Fed’s headquarters will have the highest level of security, as defined by the Department of Homeland Security, after the renovation. That includes blast-resistant windows, shear walls, and progressive collapse measures to protect employees in the event of an explosion.
Even as some Republicans cast doubt on Trump’s probe of the project, others sought more information. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called for a comprehensive review of the Fed’s “entire mission.” And Scott sent a letter to Powell the night before the visit outlining “outstanding requests” about the project.
Certain touches “would be justifiable if they were in budget, but it looks like it is $700 million over budget [and] it’s not finished — so this is of concern,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., who had also sought to participate in the tour, told Semafor earlier Thursday.
She added that the project, along with other regulatory actions, provided “reasons that eyebrows be raised, that concerns be raised, and we get a handle on this.”
A spokesperson for Scott’s counterpart in the House, Financial Services Chair French Hill, told Semafor that House Republicans had sent the Fed their own request for a briefing on the renovation. The chair of the Financial Services oversight subcommittee told Semafor on Monday he’s weighing his own probe of the Fed.
“I’ve encouraged him to proceed with that process,” Hill told Semafor on Wednesday.
Hill, who said he was not invited to the Thursday visit, has said previously that he does not believe Trump has the ability to fire Powell.
The View From Democrats
Democrats are united in their condemnation of the renovation probe as a facade for Trump to hit Powell over not lowering interest rates fast enough.
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who has been critical of Powell in the past, has repeatedly called it a “pretext.”
“Nobody is fooled here,” Warren said. “The idea that suddenly the Trump administration is deeply engaged on plumbing and painting bills for a 90-year-old building strains credibility.”
Notable
- The New York Times has pictures of the tour Fed staff gave reporters Thursday, including of an entryway labeled the “Oval Office” that was later spray-painted over “in an apparent move to avoid angering Mr. Trump.”
- Blair told Semafor ahead of the visit that he just wanted “to get eyes” on the overall project and compare it to details sent in letters and comments made by Powell.