\n<\/p>\n
The US Federal Reserve is pushing back against claims from the White House that it is undergoing extravagant renovations with a video tour showing the central bank\u2019s ongoing construction.<\/p>\n
The video, posted on the Fed\u2019s website, includes captions explaining that the project is a \u201ccomplete overhaul and modernization\u201d of two buildings that have not had major renovations since the 1930s.<\/p>\n
Direct pushback from the Fed is rare as the central bank tries to minimize public communication to preserve its non-partisan nature. But in recent weeks, the Trump administration has dramatically escalated attacks against the central bank, especially its chair, Jerome Powell, amid calls for the central bank to cut interest rates.<\/p>\n
The White House claims that the Fed mismanaged funds for renovations, which were approved in 2017 and were estimated to cost $1.9bn in 2019. The costs are now estimated to be closer to $2.5bn \u2013 Donald Trump has claimed \u201cit\u2019s possible there\u2019s fraud involved\u201d.<\/p>\n
According to the Fed, the construction includes \u201cremediation and updates to make the buildings safe, healthy and effective places to work by removing asbestos and lead contamination, and accommodating modern workplace technology\u201d, the Fed said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The central bank also included an FAQ that directly responds to accusations from the Trump administration that the renovations include unnecessary and expensive modifications, like a VIP dining room and a garden terrace.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo new VIP dining rooms are being constructed as part of the project,\u201d the Fed said. The building \u201chas conference rooms, which are being renovated and preserved. They are also used for mealtime meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the start of his second term, Trump has been trying to get the Fed to lower interest rates, even as the central bank resisted in light of his erratic tariff policies. As the Fed refused to budge, Trump has made it clear that he wants to fire Powell. But the supreme court suggested removing Powell could be unconstitutional, and Wall Street investors appear to be against the idea.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration seems to have grasped on to the Fed building renovations as a possible workaround. When asked last week whether he would fire Powell, Trump said, \u201cit\u2019s highly unlikely unless he has to leave for fraud\u201d.<\/p>\n
Attacks from the White House continue. On Monday, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, told CNBC that \u201cthe entire Federal Reserve institution and whether they have been successful\u201d needs to be examined. In Congress, the Florida representative Anna Paulina Luna referred Powell to the justice department, accusing him of lying under oath about the renovations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US Federal Reserve is pushing back against claims from the White House that it is undergoing extravagant renovations with a video tour showing the central bank\u2019s ongoing construction. The video, posted on the Fed\u2019s website, includes captions explaining that the project is a \u201ccomplete overhaul and modernization\u201d of two buildings that have not had<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[1891,5152,4437,319,671,2309,5153,517,2168],"class_list":{"0":"post-11688","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-claims","9":"tag-extravagant","10":"tag-fed","11":"tag-federal","12":"tag-house","13":"tag-pushes","14":"tag-renovations","15":"tag-reserve","16":"tag-white"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}