“If there were any remaining doubt whether advisers within the Trump Administration are actively pushing to end the independence of the Federal Reserve, there should now be none,” Republican Sen. Thom Tillis wrote Sunday in reaction to the news that the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation into the central bank’s chair, Jerome Powell, over allegations of mismanagement related to renovations of the Fed’s D.C. headquarters and Powell’s statements to Congress about the project.
When reached by reporters the following day, Tillis said that whoever is telling President Donald Trump to go after Powell should “grow up and give the president better advice.”
The Justice Department investigation is the latest in a string of attacks on the Federal Reserve and Powell coming from Trump and some officials in his administration. Aside from the president, the single biggest amplifier of this pressure campaign is Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte.
Pulte, a 37-year-old wealthy political donor and the grandson of a residential real estate construction magnate, has used his platform at FHFA, an agency that oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to attack the Fed and Powell with a singular focus. He has called publicly for Powell to resign dozens of times in the last year and instigated criminal referrals alleging mortgage fraud and resulting investigations into Fed Board of Governors member Lisa Cook, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff, Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles described James’ case last month as an example of the president pursuing “retribution” against his political enemies—James brought a civil fraud case against Trump and the Trump organization that resulted in a $500 million penalty that was later voided on appeal. A judge dismissed the mortgage fraud case against James after determining the Justice Department prosecutor was illegally appointed, and a grand jury then declined to return an indictment in a subsequent attempt to charge James.
The White House has denied any ties to the latest probe, although Trump said late last month, “We’re thinking about bringing a suit against Powell” over the renovation project. Pulte has also said he had no part in the criminal investigations, and various news reports about the FHFA director’s involvement cite only unnamed sources. But the record of the last year makes clear that Pulte is waging a vendetta against Powell, trying to provide the president with whatever ammunition he can use to target the Fed chair, even to the point of angering other administration officials.
Pulte has spent much of his tenure at FHFA focusing on Powell in interviews and a near constant stream of social media posts. He has claimed baselessly that the reason Powell is not supporting interest rate cuts is because he is personally wealthy, writing that “he will go down as the worst Chairman of the Federal Reserve in HISTORY!” At various points, he has called Powell “a phony,” “a national disgrace,” and a “corrupt swamp rat.”
Last July, Pulte reportedly presented Trump with a draft letter for the president to fire Powell. That same month, Pulte seized on unsubstantiated speculation regarding fraud in the years-long project to renovate the Fed headquarters, arguing for Powell’s resignation or firing despite the lack of evidence to substantiate any fraud or to implicate Powell in any wrongdoing.
But a trip to the construction project was enough to convince the FHFA director. In July, Pulte filmed a video outside of the construction site that aired in a Fox News segment. He claimed that by simply observing the work from outside he could tell “something is very, very bad” with the project. Pulte later joined Trump in visiting the site—it’s unclear why the FHFA director was involved or how he could accurately assess any claims of fraud tied to the renovation simply by looking at it. “Jerome Powell’s construction site was the stupidest construction site I’ve ever seen,” Pulte concluded. “He must be out, immediately, as Fed Chair.”
Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and a former Fox News host, is leading the current investigation of Powell, which she said began in November and resulted in the Fed receiving grand jury subpoenas last week. Possibly in reaction to the icy reception of the move among Republican senators, Pirro downplayed the significance of the probe and distanced herself from Pulte, writing Monday on X, “The word ‘indictment’ has come out of Mr. Powell’s mouth, no one else’s.”
Pulte has said he doesn’t know anything about the Justice Department’s efforts, although Bloomberg reported that Pulte was the key instigator behind the investigation. The Wall Street Journal separately reported that Pulte has pushed the idea of launching a legal case against Powell in recent weeks. And theWashington Post reported that Pulte recently met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago to discuss investigating Powell, and he came with a prop: a wanted poster featuring the Fed chairman. Pulte said Monday the poster story was “completely false,” but he has apparently used posters in the past to promote ideas to the president.
In the months since surfacing the criminal referrals for mortgage fraud against Cook and several of Trump’s political enemies, Pulte has come under scrutiny for seemingly acting more like a foot soldier for the president than a neutral regulator. Swalwell filed a lawsuit against Pulte in November, alleging he abused his position as FHFA director to obtain private mortgage information and then leaked it to the press. The Government Accountability Office, at the request of Democratic senators, opened an investigation into Pulte last month that will examine any potential misuse of his office and whether his agency has “misused federal authority and resources.” The Justice Department has also been looking into Pulte’s handling of the referral that prompted the case against Schiff.
“Bill Pulte is one of the President’s most loyal and important advisors who is doing a great job,” White House spokesman Steven Cheung said last month in reaction to criticisms of Pulte’s tenure at FHFA.
But other administration officials seem to want to keep Pulte away from Trump, seeing him as a rogue upstart acting outside of his remit to try to boost his standing with the president. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly threatened to punch Pulte in the face last year for badmouthing Bessent to the president.
The investigation has reportedly gummed up Bessent’s careful plans for an orderly transition when Powell’s term as chair ends in May. Fed leaders have traditionally stepped down from the board at the end of their chairmanship, but Powell’s term as a member of the Fed board runs until 2028. Tillis, one of the GOP senators defending Powell, said he will not vote to confirm any new nominees to the Fed, including the chair, until the probe is dealt with.
The backlash has apparently renewed calls among some Trump officials for Pulte to leave the administration. Pulte, for his part, has gone quiet about Powell in recent days, not sharing anything on social media about the Fed or its chair since the news of the investigation broke—aside from the denial of his involvement.
