President Donald Trump escalated his campaign against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell just about an hour after the latest release of inflation data, publicly threatening to sue him over the central bank’s headquarters renovation and repeating his call for immediate interest rate cuts. The confrontation comes as the consumer price index (CPI) report showed U.S. inflation in July was milder than expected, raising political pressure on the central bank to ease monetary policy. Complicating matters for the Fed, though, is “core” inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices but was the highest it’s been in five months.
In a social media salvo, Trump returned to his sharp critiques of the Fed chair. “Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell must NOW lower the rate,” he wrote on Truth Social. Then Trump turned to the subject of his legal threat: Powell’s oversight of the Fed’s planned $2.5 billion renovation of its landmark Washington headquarters. Trump has repeatedly condemned the project, suggesting it amounts to “fraud” and is an unnecessary luxury.
