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Powell told the president no, and Trump thinks that's a crime

By: Chris Brennan
USA Today

..... There is a two-step, proven pattern to Donald Trump's weaponization of the Department of Justice in the first year of his second term as president: First, he will overreach, and then he will fail.
..... Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, is shut the latest subject of Trump's rage for retribution.
..... Powell, on January 11, [2026] announced that the Department of Justice on January 9 [2026] served the Federal Reserve "with grand jury subpoenas, threatening a criminal indictment" for his Senate testimony in June [2025] about cost overruns for renovation of some office buildings.
..... The Fed chair called that a "pretext" for the real motive: not doing what Trump wanted.
..... "The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President," Powell said in a statement.
..... The criminal investigation looks doomed for failure, just like Trump's illegitimate prosecutions of two other perceived foes: former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
..... But Trump won't have to wait for this case to sputter and die in court if criminal charges are filed against Powell. He has already sparked a political fiasco, with serious Republican blow-back brewing in Congress.

Jerome Powell probe is an overreach, to say the least

..... A rational president would have waited. But Powell and the Federal Reserve resisted Trump's political pressure for a faster pace toward lower interest rates. And Trump is never rational when denied what he wants.
..... Powell, a Republican, first became chair in 2018, after being nominate in 2017 by Trump. President Joe Biden renominated Powell in 2021 for a four-year term that stated in 2022 and ends this May. [2026]
..... Trump was expected to name Powell's replacement soon. He justs had to wait four more months. There's little doubt that whoever Trump nominates will be far more amendable to his demands about interest rates.
..... But the president's replacement for Powell and any other nominations for Federal Reserve posts, must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. And now that;s no sure thing, thanks to Trump's overreach.
..... U.S. Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, who was already bucking Trump for his tough talk about Greenland, lashed out after Powell took the extraordinary step of announcing the criminal probe.
..... Tillis, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, used a January 11 [2026] social media post to accuse Trump's administration of "actively pushing to end the independence of the Federal Reserve" in a move that calls into question "the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice."
..... Tillis vowed to block confirmation of any Trump nominees for the Federal Reserve, "including upcoming Fed Chair vacancy."
..... U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, in her own post on January 12 [2026] hailed Tillis for promising to block Trump's nominees. She dismissed the criminal investigation as "nothing more than an attempt at coercion."
..... Republicans hold a slim majority in the Senate. And five Republicans in that chamber recently defied Trump, siding with Democrats on a resolution to require congressional approval for him to take further action in Venezuela.
..... Trump's targeting of Powell could result in ... Powell spending even more time as Federal Reserve chair. His appointment to the Board of Governors runs until January 2028, even if his term as chair ends in May. [2026]

Trump should have known Powell was never going to cave

..... So what happens if time runs out on Powell but the Senate has not confirmed his replacement?
..... David Wessel, a senior fellow for economic studies at the Brookings Institution, told me that the Federal Reserve board could vote to have Powell stay on as chair until his successor is confirmed.
..... Wessel pointed to two precedents for this, Alan Greenspan served as chair pro tempoes in 1996 while waiting for the Senate to confirm, him for anther term as chair. Powell did the same in 2022.
..... Speaking of Greenspan, he was one of 14 former Federal reserve chairs or Treasury secretaries who signed onto a bipartisan January 12 [2026] statement that denounced the criminal investigation as "an unprecedented attempt to use prosecutor attacks to undermine" the independence of the Federal Reserve. That included every living former Federal Reserve chair, going back to Ronald Regan;s presidency.
..... Trump, in a January 11 [2026] interview with NBC News, made an unconvincing case that he wasn't behind the criminal investigation and that it was not related to the Federal Reserve's approach to interest rates. But he immediately stepped on his own message, saying that if Powell was feeling any pressure, it should be about interest rates.
..... Trump should have seen this coming. Powell was never going to cave to his pressure.
..... Trump had been threatening to fire Powell for months when the two men met at one of the Federal Reserve buildings being renovated in July. [2025] Trump made a series of inaccurate and inflated claims about cost overruns for construction that Powell famously fact-checked in real time in front of journalists.
..... Powell presented Trump with facts. And Trump stuck to his claims. Because this isn't about construction cost overruns.
..... Powell told Trump no. and, to Trump, that's a crime. So expect a farce of an investigation that could lead to an illegitimate prosecution that would case a huge stir about overreach and then fail in court.

..... Follow USA Today columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter:@ByChrisBrennan.

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