Trump to tour the Federal Reserve’s $2.5 billion renovation, escalating his pressure campaign on Jerome Powell

President Donald Trump will join a tour of the Federal Reserve building in Washington, DC, on Thursday afternoon, a sharp escalation in his pressure campaign on the body’s chairman Jerome Powell over the central bank’s renovation project and interest-rate policy.

It’s rare for any president to visit the headquarters of the Fed, much less call for its head to step down. But Trump has blown past the body’s traditional independence and has mounted an effort to undermine Powell after the central bank paused interest rate cuts amid uncertainty over trade policy.

The visit, set for 4pm ET, had been previously scheduled as an opportunity for members of Trump’s staff to observe a renovation project of the Fed’s historic headquarters, which has gone well past budget and which the White House says may have violated planning requirements.

Trump’s decision to join the tour, announced late Wednesday by the White House, significantly ratchets up the symbolism of the visit. It wasn’t clear whether Trump would encounter Powell as part of the trip.

The last president to visit the Fed headquarters — situated along the National Mall only a few blocks from the White House — was George W. Bush in 2006, when he traveled the short distance to attend a swearing-in ceremony for Ben Bernanke.

Typically, presidents have avoided taking any steps that might appear to interfere in the central bank’s independence, particularly when it comes to the politically sensitive issue of interest rates.

But Trump has openly gone to war with Powell over the Fed’s decision to keep rates steady. He has nicknamed the central banker “Too Late” and pointed to Powell as a reason the economy isn’t running at full throttle. Trump has suggested a rate cut of roughly 3 percentage points.

The Fed is expected to keep rates steady at a meeting next week.

More recently, Trump and top advisers at the White House have identified the issue of the Fed’s renovation project as a point of vulnerability for Powell. Trump said last week he believed the $2.5 billion project — which has gone significantly over budget — could be a fireable offense.

Later, however, Trump said he had no plans to fire Powell — which his advisers have warned could set off a worldwide economic calamity and would be immediately challenged in court. On Tuesday, Trump seemed to acknowledge the central banker would be in the role until his term ends next May.

“I think he’s done a bad job, but he’s going to be out pretty soon anyway,” he said in the Oval Office. “In eight months, he’ll be out.”

Still, even as Trump backs off his firing threats, he has made clear he plans to make the remainder of Powell’s term uncomfortable, particularly when it comes to the matter of the Fed’s building project, which Trump will tour Thursday.

He’ll be joined on the visit by Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, Federal Housing Finance Agency head Bill Pulte and White House deputy chief of staff, James Blair.

Vought suggested in a social media post earlier this month that Powell had broken the law by failing to comply with government oversight regulations related to the Fed’s ongoing renovation, which includes the historic marble Marriner S. Eccles Building on the National Mall.

In a response last week, Powell said the renovation and its financing have always had careful oversight from the central bank’s board and its own watchdog.

In his letter, Powell noted that both buildings needed “significant structural repairs and other updates… including the removal of asbestos and lead contamination, complete replacement of antiquated systems such as electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, as well as fire detection and -2- suppression systems.”

The Fed has also published a virtual tour of its construction, which includes some of the asbestos removal.