Opinion: Trump goes too far with Federal Reserve

President Trump is a master at keeping attention on himself, but when he goes too far he exposes himself to criticism.

Sometimes this is well deserved. A good example is the recent news that his Justice Department has issued subpoenas to leaders of the Federal Reserve over Senate testimony about the $2.5 billion cost of renovating the central bank's 90-year-old building in Washington.

Over a budget in Washington? That cannot be! Nevertheless, the Justice Department reportedly began investigating the Federal Reserve in November, but the news didn't become public until a few days ago, when the subpoenas went out and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell announced what was going on.

Powell was probably right when he said, according to The Washington Post, that the investigation is another effort by Trump and his staff to intimidate the Federal Reserve into lower interest rates. The president believes the cost of borrowing money should be much lower than it is in order to stimulate the economy, and has publicly criticized Powell for not doing what he wants. As recently as Dec. 29 Trump said he is considering legal action against the chairman.

Powell and others who support slower reductions say inflation remains above the Fed's 2% target, and lower rates could increase prices and hurt the economy.

The Post reported that a Trump ally who runs the Federal Housing Finance Agency and dislikes Powell's economic strategy may have played a large role in convincing the president that investigating Powell was a good idea. If that is true, Trump should have asked for more opinions.

His own Treasury Secretary was against the idea, perhaps aware of how it would look. Former Federal Reserve officials predicted the ultimate result will be to convince Powell to stay on the Fed board as long as his term lasts, instead of leaving when his time as chairman ends this coming May.

Others believe Trump's likely nominee to succeed Powell as chairman now stands a smaller chance of being confirmed by the Senate due to fears he'll be beholden to Trump and unwilling to act independently. Wherever would they get that idea?

Surprisingly, a few Republicans in Congress have had the nerve to complain about the situation. One senator said the subpoenas make it clear that Trump officials are trying to get control of Federal Reserve policy instead of leaving partisan politics out of decisions.

Trump, as he tends to do when something his government does causes a stir, claimed not to know anything about the investigation. That's laughable. No one in charge at the Justice Department would withhold such information from this president.

The lesson from the episode is one that Trump, almost certainly, is destined to learn again and again: There are risks to overreaching, and when you're the only person making decisions, you're going to get all the blame.

— Jack Ryan, McComb Enterprise-Journal