President Trump took his "Jerome Powell Needs to Resign (Or at Least Lower Interest Rates)" tour right to the man himself Thursday afternoon, and boy did things get downright awkward.
Following weeks of applying pressure on Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve (Fed), to quit or be fired, the president made a stop at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the central bank. Trump wanted to tour the facility, which is currently undergoing a rather costly renovation, estimated to be in the $2 billion to $3 billion range, and he wanted Powell as his tour guide. To say things were frosty between the two men would be an understatement.
Here's how it started:
.@POTUS has arrived at the Federal Reserve pic.twitter.com/bkyMQs1dmg
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 24, 2025
You could almost hear "The Imperial March" playing softly in the background as the two men came into view of the cameras.
Looking completely at home on the construction site and wearing a hardhat, Trump wasted no time in confronting Powell over the rising costs of the renovation. Trump estimated that the cost of the project had risen from $2.5 billion to $3.1 billion, a figure that seemed to surprise Powell.
.@POTUS to Fed Chair Jerome Powell on the exorbitant cost overruns of their palace-like HQ renovation: "It looks like it's about $3.1 billion. It went up a little bit — or a lot." pic.twitter.com/5Hv8EUPm0m
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 24, 2025
Shaking his head "no," Powell disputed the numbers, telling the president he wasn't "aware" that the cost has skyrocketed so much. Trump had brought the receipts, however, and handed Powell a document that apparently showed the updated numbers. Powell questioned whether those figures came from the Fed—they did—and tried to explain it all away by saying the eye-popping total included a Fed building that had been constructed in the last five years.
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That explanation didn't land well, and the president pushed back, noting "it's part of the overall work." Despite protestations from Powell that the cost of the previous construction shouldn't count in the total sum, Trump forged ahead and asked Powell if he expected there to be any more "cost overruns." A skeptical president looked on as Powell said he didn't expect any, but noted there's a "reserve" pool of money that would be used for any overruns that occurred during the remaining years of the renovation, which is expected to be completed in 2027.
If there's one area you don't push Trump on, it's construction. The man knows his stuff.
Things got decidedly more uncomfortable for Powell when a member of the press pool asked President Trump how he'd handle a project manager going over budget on one of his real estate projects. His answer was pure Donald Trump: "I'd fire him!"
REPORTER: As a real estate developer, what would you do with the project manager who would be over budget?@POTUS: "Generally speaking, what would I do? I'd FIRE HIM!" pic.twitter.com/Pn1amYIF0q
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 24, 2025
Powell visibly squirmed when the president added the project should never had started to begin with and he is anxious for it to be completed since it's been in progress for "a long time" and still had a long way to go.
Trump and Powell were accompanied on the tour by Sens. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), who serve on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, which oversees the Fed.
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