President Trump has directed Attorney General Todd Blanche to study a federal inspector general report on the Federal Reserve headquarters renovation and decide what legal action to take over massive cost overruns.
Newsmax reported that Trump asked Blanche to examine the watchdog findings on a project that has already run into the billions, with no firm cost ceiling years after work began.
The renovation started in 2022. By the time the Federal Reserve Board finally obtained an initial cost estimate from its construction manager in January 2026, more than $2 billion in construction costs had already been awarded. That estimate arrived more than three and a half years after construction started.
As of July 2026, the board still had not set a guaranteed maximum price with the construction manager. The inspector general’s report found the board lacked cost certainty and had not transferred material risk to the contractor running the job.
Costs have topped $2 billion to date and are projected to reach at least $2.5 billion. Trump said the overruns run into the hundreds of millions and warned the final bill could climb higher still.
The inspector general described serious management failures on the headquarters work. One passage stated the board “still does not have cost certainty and has not transferred material risk to the [construction manager].”
The New York Post reported the project ballooned from an earlier $921 million figure toward the $2.5 billion range under a pay-as-you-go approach that left no hard cost ceiling for years. The same review cleared former Fed Chair Jerome Powell of criminal wrongdoing, finding no reasonable grounds to believe a federal criminal law had been broken.
Reuters reported the watchdog found deficiencies and lax oversight on the overrun, now described near $2.4 billion in some accounts, while stopping short of a criminal referral or a finding of administrative misconduct. Trump still directed Blanche “to study the report, and make a determination as to what to do.”
Powell, who once chaired the Fed, now sits as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Trump has made the renovation a central exhibit in his case that Powell should leave that post.
On Truth Social, Trump tied the building fiasco directly to Powell’s fitness to remain in power over monetary policy. He argued that someone who could not control a construction project should not steer interest-rate decisions either.
Trump wrote that the report showed “deficiencies in the management of the renovation project” and called the timeline “an absolutely unheard of situation.”
"In actuality, I think that the 2.5 Billion Dollars will be 3.5 Billion Dollars, and maybe 4 Billion Dollars by the time they're finished, and may never get properly built."
He also claimed distinctive architectural features were lost for good.
"The magnificent beauty, sculptured ceilings and walls, and so many other things which made the Federal Reserve Building stand apart, will never be captured again."
Trump’s demand was blunt.
"This is Jerome Powell's fault, and he should be forced to resign, IMMEDIATELY!"
If Powell refuses, Trump said the United States government should sue him “for either corruption or incompetence, both of which are completely unacceptable.” He added that he could have completed a better renovation for $25 million while preserving the building’s character and still had money left over.
In a related post highlighted across coverage, Trump said Powell “can’t manage a Building, and he certainly shouldn’t be allowed to manage his High Interest Rate Policy,” and again pressed for resignation from the board.
Trump has used the episode to keep pressure on the Fed’s leadership and on interest-rate policy he considers too tight. That posture fits a broader pattern in which he gives the Justice Department clear direction on matters he views as unfinished business, including when he tells the DOJ to stand down on a court ruling he wants left in place.
Breitbart reported that administration prosecutors had earlier pursued a criminal investigation tied to the renovation and to questions about Senate testimony, including whether perjury occurred. A judge quashed subpoenas from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office; Pirro indicated she would await the inspector general’s report before deciding on further steps. The inspector general wrote that at no point did the evaluation find reasonable grounds to believe a federal criminal law violation had occurred that required referral to the attorney general.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren answered the report by claiming it showed there was “no basis to restart” what she called a “witch hunt” against Powell by Blanche and Pirro. Trump has rejected that framing and kept the focus on the dollars and the management record.
Democrats have spent years trying to turn legal process into a political weapon against Trump himself, including talk of another impeachment drive if the House flips. Voters watching the Fed project see a simpler test: whether anyone in Washington will answer for a public building that was supposed to be renovated and instead became a multi-billion-dollar open tab.
The Washington Examiner reported that Trump has refused to shut down scrutiny of the overruns under Powell’s watch, even when that stance may complicate other personnel moves, including the path for a preferred successor. Trump has referred to Powell as “Too Late” while insisting the public deserves a full accounting of how the costs escaped control.
That insistence on follow-through is familiar to readers who have watched Trump reject half-measures and weak bargains in other fights, including when he publicly killed a Republican migrant legalization pitch he judged unfinished or unsound.
Strip away the spin and the sequence is plain. Construction began in 2022. More than $2 billion in costs were awarded before the board secured a basic cost estimate in January 2026. By July 2026 there was still no guaranteed maximum price. The inspector general found management deficiencies, no cost certainty, and risk left with the government rather than shifted to the construction manager.
Those are not slogans. They are dates, dollar figures, and contract failures on a flagship government project. Trump’s referral to Blanche asks the Justice Department to decide whether that record supports civil or other legal steps beyond the watchdog’s finding that no criminal referral was required.
Powell has not been charged with a crime in the renovation matter, and the inspector general found no reasonable grounds for a criminal-law referral. Trump’s case, as he states it, rests on competence, stewardship of public money, and whether a governor who oversaw this process should keep a seat on the board that sets national monetary policy.
Legal fights around Trump have cut both ways for years, from special counsel battles to Senate clashes over political targeting. This episode puts the question on the other side of the ledger: whether elite institutions that waste billions face real consequences, or whether an inspector general report is filed and then forgotten.
Blanche now has the report, the cost history, and a presidential directive to determine next steps. Powell remains on the Federal Reserve Board. The renovation bill is already past $2 billion and still climbing toward the mid-two billions, with Trump warning it could go higher without tighter control.
Taxpayers do not get to renovate their own homes on an open-ended government tab with no price cap for years. A central bank that lectures the country about discipline should have to live by the same rule.