... A growing number of Republicans on Capitol Hill are expressing unease with the Justice Department's move to investigate Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, a sign that the probe could become a major inflection point over GOP lawmakers' concerns about central bank independence.
Powell announced Sunday that the DOJ is investigating him over statements to Congress about renovations of the Fed's headquarters in Washington. He said the issue was a pretext to target him in response to President Donald Trump's frustration over the Fed's hesitance to aggressively lower interest rates.
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), a Powell critic who sits on the Senate Banking Committee, said in a statement Monday that "Jerome Powell is a bad Fed Chair who has been elusive with Congress, especially regarding the overruns of the elaborate renovations of the building."
"I do not believe however, he is a criminal," he said. "I hope this criminal investigation can be put to rest quickly along with the remainder of Jerome Powell's term. We need to restore confidence in the Fed."
Separately, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Monday offered among the harshest GOP rebukes yet on X, writing that "the administration's investigation is nothing more than an attempt at coercion."
"If the Department of Justice believes an investigation into Chair Powell is warranted based on project cost overruns"which are not unusual"then Congress needs to investigate the Department of Justice," she said. "The stakes are too high to look the other way: if the Federal Reserve loses its independence, the stability of our markets and the broader economy will suffer." ...
The investigation is also a concern for some House Republicans. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), who sits on the House Financial Services Committee, told POLITICO: "While I fundamentally believe Chairman Powell was late in addressing inflation under Joe Biden and has been woefully slow in lowering interest rates over the past year, the independence of the Federal Reserve is paramount and I oppose any effort to pressure them into action." ...
