President Donald Trump did not direct Justice Department officials to investigate Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday.
While speaking with reporters outside the White House, Leavitt was asked whether Trump ordered DOJ officials to open an investigation into Powell.
"No," she said, before being pressed to elaborate.
"Look, the president has every right to criticize the Fed chair. He has a First Amendment right, just like all of you do.
"And one thing for sure, the president's made it quite clear, is Jerome Powell is bad at his job.
"As for whether or not Jerome Powell is a criminal, that's an answer the Department of Justice is going to have to find out, and it looks like they intend to find that out."
Leavitt was then asked whether Trump believes the Fed should continue to operate independently of him.
"The president has made it quite clear he thinks Jerome Powell is bad at his job, and the president has made it quite clear, as have many economists by the way, that interest rates should be lowered, and they should have been lowered a long time ago," she said.
Leavitt's comments came after Powell said Sunday that the Justice Department served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas tied to his prior testimony about the central bank's Washington headquarters renovation project, warning the threat of criminal charges is being used to pressure the Fed on interest rates.
The inquiry, approved by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, is examining Powell's public testimony and spending records amid claims the project is roughly $700 million over budget, with total costs nearing $2.5 billion.
The White House, however, is insisting the DOJ probe isn't being micromanaged from the West Wing.
Trump's top economic adviser Kevin Hassett said he wasn't involved in any discussions with the DOJ about the investigation and said he didn't know whether Trump authorized it, while voicing support for scrutiny of a high-dollar renovation that has drawn public criticism.
Leavitt declined to weigh in on the vow of Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., to hold up Federal Reserve nominees until the Powell matter is resolved, saying she hadn't discussed the comments with Trump and would defer to the White House's legislative team.
Powell's Sunday statement and the escalating clash over interest rates are rattling markets and reigniting a broader debate about whether Washington's culture is seeping into institutions designed to be insulated from politics.
Powell has framed the subpoena threat as an attack on central bank independence, while Trump allies argue accountability is overdue amid ballooning renovation costs and what they say is resistance to rate cuts.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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