WASHINGTON — Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida has asked the Department of Justice to consider investigating and prosecuting Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for allegedly lying under oath in testimony before a congressional committee.

In a July 19 letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Florida Republican accused Powell of twice lying about details of the Fed’s ongoing restoration of its Washington headquarters in comments before the Senate Banking Committee on June 25. The project’s estimated $2.5 billion price tag has attracted controversy and claims of mismanagement from Republicans.

The DOJ isn’t compelled to investigate the accusations. A spokesperson for the department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A Fed official has previously said Powell had been truthful in his testimony.

Powell and the Fed have been under almost constant attack from the Trump administration for weeks, mostly over decisions to hold interest rates steady so far in 2025. Most Fed officials have said they are waiting to gauge the impact of tariffs on inflation before moving ahead with additional rate cuts — which they expect later this year.

That’s angered President Donald Trump, who has called Powell a “numbskull” and “truly one of the dumbest, and most destructive, people in Government.” On July 16 he was reportedly close to firing Powell but then denied the reports.

At the Senate Banking Committee hearing in June, Powell rejected media coverage that had characterized the Fed building renovation project as lavish and assured lawmakers that Fed officials were “good stewards of public resources.”

Luna said in her letter that the Fed chief “made several materially false claims.”

Rising costs

She referred in the letter to two specific statements Powell made during the hearing — one denying claims that a VIP dining room, special elevators and other luxury features were being added, and another that the Fed headquarters had never had a serious renovation since its construction in the 1930s. She cited the Fed’s own submission to the National Capital Planning Commission and work done on the Eccles building from 1999 to 2003.

She also said Powell lied to Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, in a July 17 letter providing details of the reconstruction project. Vought launched an inquiry into the project earlier this month.

Costs of the Fed’s renovation of two historic buildings on Constitution Avenue — which have increased from a 2023 estimate of $1.9 billion — have been substantially driven by the engineering challenges associated with building deep underground in an area with a high water table.

The renovation project was first approved by the Fed’s Board of Governors in 2017, months before Powell was confirmed as chair. It includes refurbishments to two Fed buildings along the National Mall that are both roughly 100 years old. Since the controversy erupted, the Fed has added a section to its website with information on the project. On Monday, it posted a new video.

James Blair, a White House deputy chief of staff who has been critical of the project, told reporters late last week that the Fed had invited administration officials to visit the construction site. Blair is one of three White House officials appointed recently by Trump to serve on the NCPC, the federal agency that reviews and approves projects like the Fed’s.

The Fed on its website says although it is “not generally subject to the direction of NCPC with respect to its building projects, we voluntarily collaborated with the NCPC and benefitted from robust and collaborative engagement with the commission in earlier stages of this project.”

Fed independence

Speaking Monday on CNBC, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took aim at the central bank’s track record, saying the administration should “examine the entire Federal Reserve institution and whether they have been successful.”

Other Washington figures, however, have come to the Fed’s defense. Former Fed chairs Ben S. Bernanke and Janet Yellen wrote a guest essay in the New York Times, warning the Trump administration against undermining the independence of the central bank and citing instances when the interference of elected officials led to high inflation.

“In the long run, preserving the Fed’s independence from politics is not about protecting a few individuals or a Washington bureaucracy,” the pair wrote. “It’s about protecting America’s prosperity.”

Several Republican senators including Majority Leader John Thune have also warned any attempt to challenge the Fed’s independence would likely trigger an adverse reaction in financial markets.

And Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts, released a statement Monday blasting Bill Pulte — the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency — for his “abnormal” behavior on social media, saying he posted or reposted more than 100 items this month criticizing Powell.

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(With assistance from Zoe Tillman.)

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