Why Fed Chair Jerome Powell isn't backing down

For years, President Donald Trump has complained about Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome H. Powell. He’s called him names, said he should be fired and has tried to pressure the Fed leader into lowering interest rates. Trump’s feud against Powell escalated over the weekend, when Powell revealed that the Justice Department launched a criminal inquiry against him, alleging that Powell lied about the cost of renovations to the Federal Reserve buildings. Host Elahe Izadi speaks to banking reporter Andrew Ackerman about what this probe could mean for Powell, the Fed and whether Trump’s consistent pressure on Powell could undermine America’s central bank forever. Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff. It was edited by Ariel Plotnick and mixed by Sean Carter.

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Why Fed Chair Jerome Powell isn't backing down is an episode from Post Reports by The Washington Post.

This episode is 26:26 long.

This episode was published on Jan 14, 2026.

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