Trump to tour the Federal Reserve's $2.5 billion renovation, escalating his pressure campaign on Jerome Powell Kevin Liptak, CNNJuly 24, 2025 at 8:47 PM Construction on the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve building in Washington.
- - Trump to tour the Federal Reserve's $2.5 billion renovation, escalating his pressure campaign on Jerome Powell
Kevin Liptak, CNNJuly 24, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Construction on the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve building in Washington. - Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images
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."
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. - Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
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.
The $2.5 billion quagmire
Presidents routinely use the Fed chair as a convenient punching bag, imploring the leader of the independent central bank to lower rates to help boost the economy. But Trump and his advisers and surrogates have taken those commonplace gripes to a whole new level.
Although the name-calling continues, the attacks on Powell began to focus starting last month on the Fed's expensive renovation. During his biannual testimony before Congress, Powell was grilled repeatedly on the project's enormous expense and cost overruns. Republicans have nicknamed the project "the Palace of Versailles" and accused Powell of overseeing an overly ostentatious project with ornate sculptures and luxurious features. Powell has denied those accusations, arguing that the renovation of the century-old buildings is long overdue and necessary.
"There's no VIP dining room, there's no new marble … there are no special elevators, just old elevators that have been there," Powell testified before the Senate last month.
Major construction work continues at the U.S. Federal Reserve building. - Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
The project involves the renovation of the Eccles and 1951 Constitution Avenue buildings, which were constructed nearly 100 years ago and are included in national historic site registries – adding to the complexity of the renovation and its cost.
Despite their age, neither building has been thoroughly renovated, Powell said in his response to Vought earlier this month. An independent report from 2019 authored by the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), a body that oversees construction projects for the federal government, said that many of the Eccles' building systems are "at the end of their useful life."
Originally estimated to cost $1.9 billion, the price tag ballooned to $2.5 billion over the past several years. The cost of the project rose considerably in part because of inflation and delays. A 2023 Fed budget document attributed some of the additional cost to "significant increases in raw materials … higher labor costs, and changes in construction schedule expectations which lengthen use of leased space."
As costs escalated, the Fed's renovation, under the direction of Powell, was scaled back somewhat. Those changes, although designed to save costs, caught Vought's attention.
Vought has accused Powell of lying in his testimony – an accusation that Powell has denied. The OMB director said Powell made changes to the Fed's plans without consulting the NCPC, which Vought argued the Fed was obligated to do.
Powell said the Fed didn't need to resubmit paperwork because the changes weren't "substantial," and the Fed was working with the NCPC on a voluntary basis, only. The independent Fed is "not generally subject to the direction" of the NCPC, Powell replied in his letter to Vought last week.
The changes to the Fed's plans were "intended to simplify construction and reduce the likelihood of further delays and cost increases," Powell said. "The Board does not regard any of these changes as warranting further review."
The Federal Reserve has its own budget and set of rules separate from the federal government's. Nevertheless, Powell ordered the Fed's inspector general to review the project for a second time.
This story has been with additional information.
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