Trump visits the Federal Reserve’s headquarters : NPR

Michel Martin, host:

The managers of the White House say that they still have a lot of questions about a renovation project at the headquarters of the Federal Reserve.

Sacha Pfeiffer, host:

President Trump visited the construction site yesterday with the president of the Fed, Jerome Powell, and the two wore helmets.

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President Donald Trump: It is difficult construction work. They build basements where they did not exist or widen them, and a lot of very expensive work. There is no doubt about it.

Pfeiffer: Officially, that’s what he was a visit, but there is no separation of this visit to a continuous pressure campaign of Trump and his allies to lower interest rates.

Martin: The main correspondent of the White House NPR, Tamara Keith, is there to tell us more. Hello, Tam.

Tamara Keith, Byline: Morning.

Martin: OK. So tell us about this tour. What happened?

Keith: It was controversial. The only part we could see on the camera included that Trump presented Powell with a document and the two men competing for the cost and scope of the project. Trump, who has real estate training, even said that, in general, he would fire someone who managed a project with such significant cost overruns. And he said that the word pulled with a push that he used in his program “The Apprentice”.

Martin: So it was really the construction project or did he speak of monetary policy?

Keith: Interest rates were in the center and the center. Trump has harassed Powell for weeks on this subject, even giving him the nickname too late. And then, with the president of the Fed standing right next to him, Trump was asked if there was something that Powell could say to bring him back to some of the previous criticism.

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Trump: Well, I would like him to lower interest rates.

Unidentified person: apart from that?

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Trump: Other than that, what can I tell you?

Keith: During his stay at the Fed, Trump said on several occasions that he wanted interest rates to be considerably reduced.

Martin: So remind us again, what is the problem with the Fed building?

Keith: Yeah. The project is greater than a budget by hundreds of millions of dollars, partly due to steel prices, cochees, inflation and challenges of the modernization of historical buildings with modern standards. But Trump did not seem particularly satisfied, and the best aids that had come with him during the tour, including the director of the budget Russell Vought, who clearly indicated that it does not disappear.

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Russell Vought: This is our first site visit. We want to go to the bottom of what we can learn from it and how to do it better. And we will continue to ask questions, and we must not get ahead of anything else.

Martin: You know, just to remember that the Fed is supposed to be independent. I also want to remember that Trump actually appointed President Powell in his first mandate. So, what does the White House say about the criticism that Trump does here is extremely inappropriate and that this interferes with it?

Keith: Yeah. I just have to say that it was very unusual. The last president to visit the Fed was President George W. Bush in 2006 for an oath. Thus, the sight of President Trump repressing the president of the Fed on interest rates on his own land was quite remarkable. Last night, I asked Vought if it was a pressure campaign, and Vought acted as if it were two independent questions.

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Vought: The president has a political vision of interest rates which are of vital importance for the country economically and for the portfolios of the American people. And he is a manufacturer who looks at the generosity and automatically starts to think about how he would do in this situation.

Keith: He said that the president had the right to talk about what he thinks the Fed should do.

Martin: So, Tam, however, I always think that the big question here is whether this focus on the building is a pretext to dismiss the president of the Fed.

Keith: Yeah. Trump said Powell’s dismissal would be a great decision that he did not think it was necessary.

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Trump: You know, his term is coming soon. I think he’s going to do the right thing. Everyone knows what is the right thing.

Keith: It means lowering rates. Only, it is not even clear that Trump could legally dismiss Powell. And he is not the only decision -maker on interest rates. The entire Council of Governors of the Federal Reserve obtains a vote.

Martin: It’s Tamara Keith of NPR. Tam, thank you.

Keith: You are welcome.

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