Trump news at a glance: Jerome Powell tackles inflation of White House figures on HQ upgrades
Hardhats and bad math as Fed chief shows president’s complaint about $3.1bn cost has been jacked up with old spending. Key US politics stories from 24 July 2025
“It looks like it’s about $3.1bn – it went up a little bit or a lot,” said Donald Trump, handing Jerome Powell a piece of paper as they stood amid construction at the US Federal Reserve’s Washington HQ. The usually unflappable Fed chief looked irritated, closed his eyes and shook his head. “I am not aware of that,” said Powell.
Powell scanned the paper and pointed out the figure wrongly included the cost of renovations for a different Fed building that was done five years ago. “It’s not new,” said Powell.
