Politicians from the Democratic Party swarmed to defend Jerome Powell in his nonpartisan role as Federal Reserve chairman after the Justice Department launched an investigation into him.
The DOJ investigation is related to testimony Powell gave to the Senate last year about renovation costs of the Federal Reserve headquarters building in Washington. As a result, Democratic lawmakers spoke out against allegations that his testimony was false.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the ranking member on the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, implied that this move will prompt her to vote against any chairman nominee President Donald Trump chooses once Powell’s term is up in May.
“Trump wants to nominate a new Fed Chair AND push Powell off the Board for good to complete his corrupt takeover of our central bank,” Warren wrote Sunday on X. “He is abusing the law like a wannabe dictator so the Fed serves him and his billionaire friends. The Senate must not move ANY Trump Fed nominee.”
Powell said the investigation was “unprecedented” in a video message reacting to the announcement.
“The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president,” Powell said in the video.
Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) responded to Powell’s video in an X post of her own Sunday.
“They’re committed to using all the levers of federal power they have as weapons against anyone they see as a political enemy,” Smith wrote. “Whether you agree with him or not, Jay Powell is assiduously nonpartisan and nonpolitical, but these guys don’t care.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) accused Trump of “bullying” the Federal Reserve, as Trump has long bemoaned that the agency is slow to cut interest rates.
“This is the kind of bullying that we’ve all come to expect from Donald Trump and his cronies. Anyone who is independent and doesn’t just fall in line behind Trump gets investigated,” Schumer wrote in response to Powell’s video Sunday.
“Jay Powell and the Fed aren’t the reason Trump’s economy and his poll numbers are in the toilet,” Schumer added. “If he’s looking for the person who caused that he should look in the mirror.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) echoed his equivalent in the Senate.
“The Trump Justice Department is a corrupt and illegitimate institution filled with sick political hacks,” Jeffries wrote Monday on X. “There is zero basis to criminally target Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell.”
“I stand with Jerome Powell and an independent Fed,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) wrote Sunday on X. “Threatening criminal action against a Fed Chair because he refuses to do the President’s bidding on interest rates undermines the rule of law which is the very foundation for American prosperity.”
“Trump is targeting the nonpartisan Chair of the Federal Reserve because Powell won’t bend to his demands,” Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) wrote Sunday on X.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said the Powell inquiry is “another example of this authoritarian President going after his perceived political enemies.”
“He’s destroying trust in government and acting like a dictator,” Jayapal wrote Sunday on X.
Former Democratic representative and 2024 presidential candidate Dean Phillips equated the investigation to the “corrupt regime” of Iran.
“We should all support the courageous people of Iran as they fight for independence from a corrupt regime,” Phillips wrote Sunday on X. “And we should all support Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve as they fight for independence from a corrupt regime.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) celebrated the move Sunday, as she initially referred Powell to the DOJ for a criminal investigation.
“It’s good to see my criminal referral working in real time,” Luna wrote on X. “You CANNOT lie to Congress. That is called PERJURY.”
TRUMP FLOATS ‘GROSS INCOMPETENCE’ LAWSUIT AGAINST POWELL OVER FED RENOVATION COSTS
Then-President Barack Obama nominated Powell to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in 2012. Trump elevated Powell to chairman in 2018, and then-President Joe Biden reappointed him in 2022.
Trump publicly contemplated firing Powell, but has kept him in the position. Trump has also hinted at making Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent the new chairman.
