Powell Cleared

Fed watchdogs cleared Jerome Powell of criminal wrongdoing in the central bank's headquarters renovation, Axios reported Wednesday.

The Fed's Office of Inspector General found construction costs more than doubled to $2.5 billion and faulted Fed management and oversight of the project. Inflation alone couldn't explain the overrun, the watchdog said. Marble. Water features. A garden terrace. Those design touches drew the sharpest criticism in Congress, but the report found they did not materially add to the cost increase.

"At no point during our evaluation did we find reasonable grounds to believe that a violation of federal criminal law had occurred requiring a referral to the U.S. Attorney General," the inspector general wrote, according to Axios.

Trump and Powell have clashed over the Fed's direction for months, and the renovation sits at the center of it. The Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into Powell that became public in January. It centered on his June 2025 testimony to Congress about the project's rising costs, Axios reported.

Trump's pressure over renovation disputes has turned up elsewhere this year, too. A Washington judge this month permanently dismissed vandalism charges against former Olympian David Hearn over damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a project Trump championed, according to ABC News. Prosecutors had accused Hearn of ripping out part of the pool's lining. Evidence later pointed to the renovation work itself, and the judge found no proof of a crime.

Trump posted his response to the Fed watchdog's findings on Truth Social Wednesday. Powell "should be forced to resign, IMMEDIATELY," he wrote, adding that the government should sue Powell "at the highest level" if he refuses to step down.

Powell's term as Fed chair ends in May 2026.