Fed Chairman Jerome Powell fears criminal indictment as Trump-Fed confrontation intensifies



In the latest escalation between the Trump administration and the Federal Reserve, the Department of Justice has issued grand jury subpoenas against the Fed, according to Chairman Jerome Powell.

On Sunday, the official Federal Reserve X account posted a video of Powell explaining the subpoenas and claiming that the DOJ was "threatening a criminal indictment related to my testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last June."

'The cost overruns are what they are.'

"That testimony concerned in part a multiyear project to renovate historic Federal Reserve office buildings," Powell added.

In the video, Powell shows no sign of capitulating to President Trump's calls to lower interest rates, dismissing these calls as merely 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."

RELATED: 'My new Fed Chairman': Trump hints at major changes coming to Federal Reserve amid great economic report

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

"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 employment," Powell said. "Public service sometimes requires standing firm in the face of threats. I will continue to do the job the Senate confirmed me to do, with integrity and a commitment to serving the American people."

Powell said that the subpoenas were served last Friday.

During his testimony in June, Powell was asked about the cost of the renovations around the 36-minute mark of the hearing. He began by saying, "We do take seriously our responsibility as stewards of the public's money," but concluded, "The cost overruns are what they are."

He also denied several of what he said were media inaccuracies, including reports of "special elevators," new marble, "roof terrace gardens," and "beehives."

In a rare confrontation with Powell, President Trump, wearing a hard hat, visited the construction site in late July to challenge him on the "overruns." Powell said he was "unaware" of the new numbers Trump presented to him.

Days before the July confrontation between Powell and Trump, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) sent a criminal referral for Powell to the Department of Justice.

On Sunday evening, Luna responded to the news of the grand jury subpoenas, repeating her allegations against Powell: "It’s good to see my criminal referral working in real time. You CANNOT lie to Congress. That is called PERJURY."

No criminal charges have been brought against Powell at the time of writing.

The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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Federal Reserve obliges Trump, cuts interest rates for the third time this year



In a move championed by President Donald Trump, the Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by 0.25% to a range of 3.5% to 3.75% on Wednesday, the third cut this year, lowering borrowing costs and giving some lift to a flagging job market.

Only three members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors voted against the cut: Stephen Miran, who wanted to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 0.5%, and Austan Goolsbee and Jeffrey Schmid, who both figured it was presently best not to have any cuts at all.

'Available indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding at a moderate pace.'

Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist for the financial services firm RSM US, noted in a Tuesday analysis that the Fed was faced with the "difficult choice of either aggressively fighting inflation or hoping to revive a sluggish labor market and slowing economic activity when it meets on Tuesday and Wednesday."

Rate cuts can help boost the stock market — encouraging spending, investing, and business activity by lowering savings rate and borrowing costs. However, by increasing the supply of money, they can also exacerbate inflation.

The annual inflation rate was around 3% for the 12 months ending September, according to U.S. Labor Department data. The Fed's inflation target is 2% over the longer run — hence the resistance to another cut by some policymakers.

"The [Federal Open Market Committee] seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run. Uncertainty about the economic outlook remains elevated," the Fed said in a statement on Wednesday. "The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate and judges that downside risks to employment rose in recent months."

In light of its goals and "the shift in the balance of risks," the FOMC determined that a drop in the rate by 0.25% was worthwhile.

"Available indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding at a moderate pace. Job gains have slowed this year, and the unemployment rate has edged up through September," the Fed noted further. "Inflation has moved up since earlier in the year and remains somewhat elevated."

The rate-cut decision on Wednesday comes months after the Fed similarly lowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points in September to a range of 4% to 4.25%, and after weeks of disagreement on the central bank's 12-member policy committee regarding the prudent way forward.

Chris Brigati, chief investment officer at the financial services company SWBC, told the Financial Post ahead of the announcement that the Federal Reserve was divided on how to proceed with rate cuts in 2026 "given the delicate balance between job market weakness and still-elevated inflation."

"There is also uncertainty about the new Fed chair, and that may also add to the central bank's reluctance to make any major rate moves in the months leading up to Chair Powell's term ending," Brigati added.

RELATED: Can presidents fire all federal bureaucrats at will? Supreme Court to hear case with major implications.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Image

In search of someone suitable to replace Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May, the president has been interviewing various candidates, including Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, both members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors; former Fed governor Kevin Warsh; and BlackRock fixed-income chief Rick Rieder. Top White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett is, however, reportedly regarded as the frontrunner.

The president told reporters on Air Force One on Tuesday, "We're going to be looking at a couple of different people, but I have a pretty good idea who I want."

When asked in his interview with Politico the previous day whether it is "a litmus test that the new chair lower interest rates immediately," Trump said yes and noted, "We're fighting through interest rates."

The Federal Reserve also released on Wednesday its regional bank presidents and governors' quarterly set of economic projections. They anticipate a rise in the unemployment rate from 4.4% in September to 4.5% by year's end; the GDP to grow by 2.3% in 2026; and inflation to sink, but nowhere below their 2% target.

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Trump fires Biden Fed governor for possible 'criminal conduct' — but Lisa Cook is desperate to cling to power



President Donald Trump informed Lisa Cook on Monday that her time on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors has come to an end.

The Biden-nominated governor did not handle the news well, indicating that she will challenge the president's authority to remove executive branch employees, setting the stage for a legal battle that could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The president's recent successes in similar battles over removals of high-level bureaucrats and his ability to fire Federal Reserve board members "for cause" bodes poorly for Cook, who may soon also face criminal charges.

Quick background

Former President Joe Biden nominated Cook, a race-obsessed economist who served on Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, to join the Federal Reserve's board of governors in January 2021.

Critics largely opposed her nomination because of her leftist worldview and her relative lack of experience.

"There's very little on Dr. Cook’s CV to suggest she knows the ins and outs of monetary policy," economics professor Alexander William Salter noted ahead of Cook's confirmation in May 2022. "During her nomination hearing on February 3, she listed one promising qualification: election to the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. But this happened less than a month prior, on January 13 (effective January 1)! Nobody is this quick a study."

RELATED: Supreme Court sides with Trump on firing of officials from independent federal agencies

Photographer: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images

"Professor Cook has no proven expertise in monetary economics at all, much less fighting inflation," Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said prior to Cook's confirmation vote. "Professor Cook is a proven partisan who has promoted left-wing conspiracy theories and called for a fellow academic to be fired because that person did not support defunding the police."

Cook ultimately squeaked through the confirmation process with the help of a tie-breaking vote from then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

Housing crisis

Earlier this month, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte sent a criminal referral for Cook to the Justice Department.

Pulte told Attorney General Pam Bondi in an Aug. 15 letter that mortgage documents appear to indicate that Cook "has falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under the criminal statute."

'The American people must be able to have full confidence in the honesty of the members entrusted with setting policy and overseeing the Federal Reserve.'

"This has included falsifying residence statuses for an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based residence and an Atlanta, Georgia-based property in order to potentially secure lower interest rates and more favorable loan terms," continued Pulte.

Two weeks after taking out a 15-year mortgage agreement for $203,000 on the Michigan property, Cook purchased a condominium in Atlanta and entered into a 30-year mortgage agreement for $540,000. According to Pulte, Biden's Fed governor allegedly listed both residences as her primary.

A CNN review of the mortgage documents found that both properties were indeed listed as Cook's principal residence.

Eviction

President Trump evidently took the allegations very seriously, noting in an Aug. 25 letter to Cook that he shared on Truth Social that "it is inconceivable that you were not aware of your first commitment when making the second. It is impossible that you intended to honor both."

"The Federal Reserve has tremendous responsibility for setting interest rates and regulating reserve and member banks," wrote Trump. "The American people must be able to have full confidence in the honesty of the members entrusted with setting policy and overseeing the Federal Reserve."

The president suggested that neither he nor the American people have confidence in Cook's integrity in light of her alleged "deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter."

RELATED: Sean Spicer tells Glenn Beck how Biden unwittingly helped Trump fire 'anyone he wants'

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Trump stated, "Pursuant to my authority under Article II of the Constitution of the United States and the Federal Reserve Act of 1912, as amended, you are hereby removed from your position on the Board of the Governors of the Federal Reserve, effective immediately."

In response to the firing — reportedly the first time a president has canned or attempted to can a sitting Federal Reserve governor — Pulte thanked Trump for his "commitment to stopping mortgage fraud and following the law."

Blaze News has reached out to the White House for comment.

The Federal Reserve declined to comment on the development.

Clinging to power

Echoing other presidential appointees who are now out of work, Cook suggested President Trump lacked the authority to give her the boot.

"President Trump purported to fire me 'for cause' when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so. I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022," said Cook in a statement obtained by Politico.

The fired Fed governor's attorney Abbe Lowell — who has also served as an attorney for pardoned felon Hunter Biden and New York Attorney General Letitia James — stated, "President Trump has taken to social media to once again ‘fire by tweet’ and once again his reflex to bully is flawed and his demands lack any proper process, basis or legal authority," adding that "we will take whatever actions are needed to prevent his attempted illegal action."

The law firm Lex Politica indicated days ahead of Trump's announcement that "President Trump clearly has authority to remove Governor Cook 'for cause,' assuming the allegations of mortgage fraud or lying on federal ethics forms are confirmed."

The Federal Reserve Act states that each member of the Fed's Board of Governors "shall hold office for a term of fourteen years from the expiration of the term of his predecessor, unless sooner removed for cause by the President."

The firm noted further that while the DOJ's investigation of Cook's alleged conduct and any charges it might bring against her "further support removal for cause ... we do not believe that an indictment is necessary before the President may remove Governor Cook 'for cause' under the Federal Reserve Act."

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Trump Calls For Fed Board Member To Resign Over Mortgage Fraud Allegations

'must resign'

Bloomberg interviewer's attempts to needle Trump backfire — and the crowd loves it



Leftist publications and the Harris campaign have tried desperately to spin President Donald Trump's Tuesday interview with the editor in chief of Bloomberg News as a botch job on the part of the Republican — calling it "disastrously bad," "rambling," "angry and unfocused," and "a total mess."

The audience members present for the exchange at the Economic Club of Chicago were evidently of a different mind, both cheering on Trump's ripostes to Bloomberg's John Micklethwait, booing the interviewer's loaded questions, and giving the president a standing ovation.

Micklethwait, who reportedly ordered his staff not to investigate Michael Bloomberg or his Democratic rivals prior to the 2020 election, attempted on several occasions to kneecap the Republican candidate but proved unsuited to the task.

In one instance, the British Bloomberg EIC tried characterizing Trump's plan to impose significant tariffs on imports and on American companies that outsource manufacturing as potentially ruinous, suggesting that it might adversely impact the economy as well as foreign powers.

Trump indicated that his tariff strategy during his first term was ramping up to major success prior to the pandemic, not only incentivizing companies to build factories in the homeland but bringing in "hundreds of billions of dollars just from China alone, and I hadn't even started yet."

'They've been wrong about everything.'

Shortly after the Republican president reiterated that tariffs serve to protect American companies and those companies that will ultimately flood into the country, Micklethwait said:

A lot of places like this, they rely — there are a lot of jobs that rely on foreigners coming here. You're going to basically stop trade with China. You're talking about 60% tariffs on that. You're talking, as you said, 100%, 200% on things you don't really like. You're also talking about 10, 20% tariffs on the rest of the world. That is going to have a serious effect on the overall economy. And yes you're going to find some people who would gain from individual tariffs. The overall effect could be massive.

Trump rejected the Bloomberg editor's premise, saying, "I agree. It's going to have a massive effect. Positive effect. It's going to be a positive, not a negative."

"I know how committed you are to this," continued Trump. "It must be hard for you to spend 25 years talking about tariffs as being negative and then have somebody explain to you that you're totally wrong."

As the audience broke into laughter, Micklethwait tried in vain to reassert himself, insinuating that 40 million jobs dependent on trade might be lost on account of the tariffs.

"You ready? John Deere. Great company. They announced about a year ago they're going to build big plants outside of the United States," said Trump. "They're going to build them in Mexico."

"That's right. I said, 'If John Deere builds those plants, they're not selling anything into the United States,'" added Trump.

Following the Bloomberg interview, the Wall Street Journal indicated John Deere has not yet axed its Mexican ambitions; however, Trump's potential re-election might prompt a rethinking of the company's extra-national focus.

Micklethwait suggested further that Trump's proposed tariffs could undermine American foreign policy, in part by upsetting allies and "dividing" the West.

"How does it help you take on China turning all of your allies against you?" asked the editor.

"Tremendously because China thinks we're a stupid country, a very stupid country. They can't believe that somebody finally got wise to them," said Trump. "Not one president charged China anything. They said, 'Oh, they are a third-world nation. They are developing.' Well, we're a developing nation, too. Take a look at Detroit. Take a look at our cities. ... We have to develop more than they do."

"Our allies have taken advantage of us more so than our enemies," continued the president, citing the European Union nations, Japan, and South Korea as countries that have benefited from other presidents' reluctance to impose tariffs.

After several unsuccessful attempts to extract concessions from Trump on the topic of tariffs, Micklethwait suggested the Republicans' promises to drop taxes will cost trillions of dollars.

"You're flooding the thing with giveaways. I was actually quite kind to you. I used $7 trillion. The upper estimate [for the cost of the promises] is $15 trillion. People like the Wall Street Journal, who's hardly a communist organization, they have criticized you on this as well," said the editor.

"What does the Wall Street Journal know?" responded Trump. "They've been wrong about everything. So have you, by the way."

Once again, the audience — apparently out of touch with the thinking of liberal bloggers — broke into laughter.

"You're trying to turn this — you're trying to turn this into debate," said Micklethwait, growing visibly flustered.

"You're wrong," replied Trump. "You've been wrong all your life on this stuff."

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Explained: Why the Fed lowering interest rates might be a BAD sign ...



When Glenn Beck first heard the news that the Federal Reserve lowered the interest rate by half a point, which is the first time it’s been lowered since 2020, his first thought was “this is election interference by the Fed.”

His second thought was that the last time the Fed did this, it didn’t lead to a positive outcome.

Recovering investment banker Carol Roth joins the show to break down the details.

“What’s really going on here, Carol?” Glenn asks.

“First of all, Glenn, I just want you to know that I am unburdened by what has been, and now the market is in terms of interest rates because we are in a rate-cutting environment,” says Roth, taking a jab at Kamala Harris.

“I think the important thing to remember is that when we talk about rate heights, rate cuts — anything the Fed’s doing — we have to keep it in context, and the backdrop is that we came out of 15 years of what's called ZIRP — zero interest rate policy — where the interest rates were at or near zero,” she continues, adding that in addition, the Fed put “$9 trillion plus on its balance sheet.”

According to Roth, there’s the potential for both good and bad with this lowered interest rate.

Starting with the potential bad, Roth says, “when you are saying that the economy is doing amazing” and then follow with “a very large cut,” it can “send a signal to say things are not going so well.”

However, “after 15 years of zero interest rate policy, it does make sense for us to get back to what's considered a neutral rate,” she says.

“Is this an inflationary move?” asks Glenn.

“So that’s the question,” says Roth. “If you think about what the neutral rate is, which is theoretical — we don't know the number — but basically it's the dividing line between policy that is restrictive and policy that is accommodative, and what we're trying to do is have the Fed have no influence in either direction. I believe that we are still in that restrictive area.”

“I don’t think that will cause inflation,” she says.

“I wouldn't be spending a dime right now on hiring, building — anything. Not a dime until I see what happens at the election,” says Glenn, adding that if Harris gets elected, he’s “battening down the hatches,” but if Trump wins, he’d be “willing to invest.”

To hear Roth’s thoughts, watch the clip above.

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Failed Trump shooter linked to feds? Ryan Routh's DARK HISTORY exposed



Thomas Crooks thankfully failed in his quest to assassinate Donald Trump, and now Ryan Routh is joining him in that failure — after a second attempt on the former president’s life.

The attempt came 14 days after Vice President Kamala Harris posted a photo of Trump on her social media that read “Donald Trump vows to be a dictator on day one,” with the caption “We won’t let him.”

“Do you think that this is not correlated? Do you think that the rhetoric from the left calling Trump Hitler, calling him an authoritarian, calling him a dictator, calling him evil, telling women that he’s trying to take over their bodies, telling LGBTQIA-identifying people that he’s trying to marginalize them and genocide them, that his policies will kill them?” Liz Wheeler of “The Liz Wheeler Show” comments.

Wheeler also notes that from what we know about Routh, he doesn’t seem to be “a babbling schizophrenic hearing voices telling him to kill Donald Trump.”

“He seems like an individual who fell for the rhetoric of the mainstream media calling Trump Hitler, feeling like he would be doing a service to humanity to take Trump out,” she explains.

Routh also reportedly had a Kamala Harris bumper stick on his truck.

“I hate to have to say this, but you are going to have to convince me that Ryan Routh is not a fed asset,” Wheeler says. “Even the Martin County Sheriff asked if this shooter was part of some conspiracy because there are so many red flags.”

One of those red flags was that he was a “lone gunman” but somehow had the knowledge of exactly where Trump would be and the time he would be there.

“How did a lone gunman know where president Trump was going to be on the fifth hole of his golf course at that specific time of day with an AK-47?” Wheeler asks. “He also has a really sketchy, weird foreign profile.”

Routh was caught with a weapon of mass destruction and promptly arrested, before being given probation.

“Imagine having a weapon of mass destruction and just getting probation,” Wheeler says, shocked.

Routh has also spent a good part of a year in Ukraine and has been using his social media to recruit fighters from all over the world to come and fight for the country.

“Are you telling me that the FBi didn’t know about this guy? The CIA didn’t know about this guy? The State Department didn’t know about this guy? If so, they’re completely useless,” Wheeler adds.


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Democrats Will Gladly Trash The Economy To Put A DEI Hire On The Federal Reserve Board

Americans cannot allow Democrats to fill the Federal Reserve with unqualified candidates armed with reckless economic theories.

Federal Reserve 'acts like firefighters' but 'they are the arsonists'



The Federal Reserve may be the central bank of the United States — but it’s a private corporation that actually has nothing to do with the federal government.

Not only is it a private corporation, but Thomas Massie believes it’s what’s causing America’s skyrocketing inflation.

“What they did during COVID is they created trillions of dollars out of thin air,” Massie explains to Glenn Beck. “Congress spent those trillions of dollars, but it’s the Fed that enables it and it’s the Fed that pulls it off.”

“The Fed acts like they’re the firefighters, but they are the arsonists,” he continues, adding, “The Fed starts out as the arsonist, then they come in and they do the firefighting by raising interest rates, and then they go in and bail out the couple of banks last year. So, they’re causing the problems that they come in and allegedly solve.”

While inflation impacts millions of Americans negatively, the Fed doesn’t care — because it’s only the rich who matter to them.

“They make sure that the rich people can survive through inflation. The poor people can’t, or even the middle class can’t,” Massie explains, telling Glenn that while the U.S. dollar is the world’s reserve currency, it may not be for long.

“No politician in any other country is going to take responsibility for their own fiscal madness. Everybody’s going to blame it on the United States because we were greedy, grotesque, and took on so much debt that we devalued the dollar, and it’s going to affect the entire world,” Glenn agrees.

This is why Massie believes it's time to end the Federal Reserve.

“They’ve been asking me, ‘What if you get rid of the Fed? What do you replace it with?’ That’s like saying if you take out a tumor, what do you replace the tumor with,” he says, adding, “The serious answer is we go back to stable currency that the government can’t manipulate.”


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THIS is Where Inflation is Coming From
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THIS is Where Inflation is Coming From