Fed Chair Jerome Powell says he won't leave bank until DOJ probe is over

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday he would not step down as leader of the central bank until his successor is confirmed and would not leave the bank's board of governors until the Trump administration concludes its criminal investigation.

During a Wednesday press conference, Powell confirmed that he would stay on the Fed board as chair pro tempore until the Senate confirms President Trump's nominee to replace him, following the precedent by several past Fed chiefs. Powell also served a brief stint as acting Fed chair under former President Biden, who renominated him for another four-year term leading the central bank in 2021.

Powell also said he would remain a member of the Fed board of governors until the Justice Department ends its criminal probe of his handling of renovations to the central bank's headquarters in Washington, D.C., along with his June 2025 testimony about the matter before the Senate Banking Committee.

"I have no intention of leaving the Board until the investigation is well and truly over with transparency and finality," Powell said Wednesday, shortly after the Fed kept rates steady.

Powell's term as Fed chair ends in May, and Trump in January nominated former Fed board member Kevin Warsh to replace him. But Powell's separate term as a member of the Fed board does not run out until 2028, giving him the ability to stay at the Fed in a non-leadership capacity through the remainder of that stint.

While most Fed chairs who can remain at the bank choose to leave, none of Powell's predecessors have faced a similar legal challenge from within the administration.

Powell confirmed in January that the DOJ sent him and the Fed subpoenas as it pondered whether to file criminal charges. The DOJ is investigating whether Powell abused his office and lied to Congress regarding renovations to two buildings on the Fed's Washington, D.C., campus.

The intitial cost of the project was estimated to be $1.9 billion, but costs eclipsed $2.5 billion amid pandemic-related contruction delays and shortages, and due to discovery unexpected structural damage and hazardous substances within the early 20th century buildings.

Trump, who has constantly berated Powell's economic views, claimed that the Fed chair should be investigated and punished for gross incompetence and dishonesty. Powell dozens of lawmakers, and a broad coalition of economic and legal experts have dismissed the probe as a political ploy to push out the Fed chief or punish his refusal to heed the president's orders.

A federal judge sided with the Fed in an order unsealed last week, which quashed the DOJ subpoenas and accused the department of harassing Powell and the bank. But the DOJ has pledged to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, and Trump himself unloaded on Powell in a Sunday night social media post.

"How is this absolutely terrible Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome 'Too Late' Powell, not even allowed to be investigated for the horrible job he does?" Trump wrote in a Sunday night post on Truth Social.

Trump claimed Powell "created an absolute disaster — A money pit, and embarrassment to our Country for the whole World to see!"

"The Contractor on the job, along with Powell, should also be heavily investigated, in that it is impossible for a 'professional' to have such enormous Cost Overruns," he continued.