DOJ launches criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell, he says

In an extraordinary escalation of a months-long attack on the independence of the Federal Reserve, federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, he confirmed in a statement Sunday night.

The investigation is related to Powell’s testimony last June about the multi-year renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings, Powell said in a video message released by the Fed.

But Powell says it’s clear the investigation is ultimately part of President Donald Trump's administration’s increasingly hostile push to pressure the Fed to lower interest rates.

“This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions -- or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation,” Powell said.

In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for Attorney General Pam Bondi said, “The Attorney General has instructed her U.S. Attorneys to prioritize investigating any abuse of taxpayer dollars.”

Tim Lauer, a spokesman for D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, told ABC News in a statement, “We do not comment on ongoing investigations.”

Trump denied any involvement in the criminal investigation during a brief interview with NBC News on Sunday night.

"I don’t know anything about it, but he’s certainly not very good at the Fed, and he’s not very good at building buildings,” Trump said.

The president noted Federal Reserve interest rates, saying, "What should pressure him is the fact that rates are far too high. That’s the only pressure he’s got,” Trump said, according to NBC News. “He’s hurt a lot of people,” he added. “I think the public is pressuring him.”

In July, Trump visited the Federal Reserve building, repeating calls for lower interest rates while standing alongside Powell.

Donning matching white hard hats, Trump and Powell took a tour of the central bank's $2.5 billion building renovation project at the time. Trump had repeatedly slammed Powell for cost overruns tied to the renovation.

The Fed attributes spending overruns to unforeseen cost increases, saying that its building renovation will ultimately "reduce costs over time by allowing the Board to consolidate most of its operations," according to the central bank's website.

After a tour of the renovation, Trump answered questions from the press while standing next to Powell. During one exchange, Trump claimed the costs of the renovation had been even higher than previously known, before Powell immediately corrected him, saying Trump had wrongly included costs from a project completed years earlier.

Later that month, House Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida initially sent the DOJ a criminal referral against Powell over his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee.

Luna accused Powell at the time of making false statements to the committee about the central bank's renovation at its headquarters.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who serves on the Banking Committee, released a statement on X Sunday night, saying, “If there were any remaining doubt whether advisers within the Trump Administration are actively pushing to end the independence of the Federal Reserve, there should now be none.”

The lawmaker said he would "oppose the confirmation of any nominee" for the Federal Reserve, including the upcoming chair position, until this legal matter is fully resolved."

Powell's term as Fed chair ends in May, but he will remain a member of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors until 2028.