"The Fed Got Caught" - DOJ DROPS THE HAMMER on Powell Over $2B SCANDAL
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What investigation is the DOJ conducting against Jerome Powell?
Federal prosecutors open investigation into federal chair Powell. What? Oh, boy. Yep, they're going after Jerome Powell, which is stirring up a lot of conversation. Rob, is this him saying that it's happening? Go ahead, Rob.
Good evening. On Friday, the Department of Justice served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas, threatening a criminal indictment related to my testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last June. That testimony concerned, in part, a multi-year project to renovate historic Federal Reserve office buildings. I have deep respect for the rule of law and for accountability in our democracy. No one, certainly not the chair of the Federal Reserve, is above the law.
You.
But this unprecedented action should be seen in the broader context of the administration's threats and ongoing pressure. This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings. It is not about Congress's oversight role. The Fed, through testimony and other public disclosures, made every effort to keep Congress informed about the renovation project. Those are pretexts.
How is the $2.5 billion renovation project connected to the scandal?
The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President. This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions, or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation. I have served at the Federal Reserve under four administrations, Republicans and Democrats alike. In every case, I have carried out my duties without political fear or favor, focused solely on our mandate of price stability and maximum.
We get the idea of what's happening. So, Tom, what's going on over here, Tom?
So what he did was the Fed chairman, Powell, was in front of Congress because to renovate a building, an individual building, suddenly the price tag was $2.5 billion. Now, when you look at the Department of Defense once got caught paying $6,000 for a simple hammer, yeah, you know that when the government is paying for things, there's graft, there's kickbacks, there's things, there's all these allegations. I'm not saying that there was that on the Fed building. But all those allegations, usually when there's audits, really – You know, point bad. So last year, and the ad there, there it is. Federal Reserve blows $2.5 billion on Palace of Versailles headquarters. So this was, they really got caught, Pat.
They were, this building is poorly managed. This is embarrassing. And it's embarrassing. So Powell was over there, said a couple things that in Congress turned out to be not perfectly correct, but no one, including the Congressional Committee, thought that Powell was out and out lying the way, say, Minneapolis-level fraud lying. Mm-hmm. Well, Trump at the same time has been putting pressure on Powell, as has Fannie and Freddie, you know, Bill Pulte, has been pushing on Powell to lower interest rates to see if we could help the housing market a little bit. or a little bit more. And Trump also wants to lower those rates for, Pat, US debt is coming due and it's gonna be refinanced. He wants it refinanced at lower interest rates.
So he wants the rates down. The Fed was saying no. Well, the Fed is now saying, OK, the federal investigators of doing this and this is Powell saying, I think this is a little bit over the top considering what's going on at the Fed building. And I think they're using it to exert political pressure on me regarding interest rates. So it's not about me operating as the Fed. Suddenly, this is the president, you know, pushing politically because he didn't like my answer. And so now he's having people investigate the building. I think there's a little of both going on, Pat. Quite frankly, there is pressure on Powell to lower interest rates from the White House and from the secretary, Besant. There are definitely pressure.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What investigation is the DOJ conducting against Jerome Powell?
0:00–1:16
2
How is the $2.5 billion renovation project connected to the scandal?
1:16–5:47
3
What does the panel say about the Federal Reserve's independence?
5:47–7:21
4
How does political pressure affect the Federal Reserve's interest rate decisions?
7:21–9:45
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from Valuetainment
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