President Trump Demands Answers on Federal Reserve’s Billion-Dollar Building Fiasco

Clear Facts

• President Trump vowed to investigate how Federal Reserve headquarters renovations ballooned from an expected $25 million to over $4 billion
• U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro transferred the investigation from federal prosecutors to Inspector General Michael Horowitz
• The probe shift may clear the path for Trump’s Fed nominee Kevin Warsh after Sen. Thom Tillis blocked the confirmation over investigation concerns

President Donald Trump made clear Saturday that despite a shift in how the investigation will proceed, he remains determined to uncover the truth behind the Federal Reserve’s staggering cost overruns on its headquarters renovation project.

Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida, Trump responded to questions about U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro’s decision to transfer the Federal Reserve investigation from her office to the agency’s inspector general.

“Well, I want to find out,” Trump said.

“You know, it’s not dropped,” he continued. “They’re looking into the whole thing about the crisis. What I want, with the IG, what I want to look at is how can a building that I could have done for $25 million cost $4 billion? That’s a big thing.”

The president didn’t mince words about accountability, pointing directly at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

“He was in charge,” Trump stated.

“So we’ll get to the bottom of it,” he added. “Yeah, I think Jeanine is fantastic. And she worked with other people on that. I tell you, I want to find out, I have an obligation to find that — this was done during Biden, but I have an obligation to find out how does it — I would have done that building for $25 million and had money left over. And it would have been open a long time ago.”

According to the Fed’s website, the agency had an approved budget of $2.46 billion for the renovations. That figure grew due to unexpected complications including more asbestos than anticipated and inflation during the renovation timeline.

Pirro announced Friday that Inspector General Michael Horowitz would take over the investigation, shifting it from federal prosecutors to a veteran government watchdog.

Powell had been under investigation over statements he made to Congress regarding the management of renovation costs. In a January video announcement, Powell claimed the Justice Department investigation represented an unprecedented attempt to use “intimidation” to force him to lower interest rates.

The relationship between Trump and Powell—whom Trump nominated in 2017—had deteriorated significantly as the president grew frustrated over interest rate policy. Trump called Powell a “fool” and demanded in March that he drop rates “immediately.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who serves on the Senate Banking Committee, had blocked Kevin Warsh’s confirmation as Powell’s replacement due to concerns about the DOJ investigation.

Tillis claimed the Justice Department’s probe was political interference that would improperly affect markets. He accused Pirro of seeking “brownie points” with Trump by opening the investigation, saying during a February television interview, “It’s not cute.”

During his confirmation hearing this week, Tillis told Warsh—who previously served on the Fed’s Board of Governors—that despite his “extraordinary credentials,” he could not vote to advance the nomination until the DOJ ended its investigation.

Horowitz, who will now handle the building renovation investigation, has served as DOJ inspector general for over a decade. He was among the few high-profile inspectors general spared during Trump’s reshaping of government oversight agencies and has earned support from key figures like House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

The investigation shift could now clear the path for Warsh’s nomination to proceed.

Trump emphasized he wanted to see the investigation completed “for the country.”

“It’s much tougher, much more expensive to build a hotel than an office,” the president said, referencing his Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., which he sold in 2022 and was subsequently renamed the Waldorf Astoria.

“I want to find out how can a building of that size cost for whatever it’s going to be,” he continued. “Nobody knows, by the way, what it’s going to be. Kevin is going to be fantastic. Kevin Warsh, he may never get to be in that building.”

Trump told reporters his nomination should now proceed smoothly, “but whether it is or not, somebody has to find out why that building that should have cost $25 million is costing billions of dollars.”

“And you know why they have to find it out? For other buildings, because that’s not the only one. I think that’s the most egregious example.”

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