Trump Demands Powell Resign or Face Lawsuit After Fed Watchdog Report Finds No Criminal Wrongdoing

President Trump escalated his campaign against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on September 30, calling for Powell to be "forced to resign" from the Fed's board and saying that if he refuses, the United States should sue him. Trump indicated that attorney Todd Blanche would make a determination about the Fed building at the center of the dispute. The remarks came directly in response to a report released the same day by the Fed's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, who found cost overruns and management failures in the renovation of the Marriner S. Eccles Building but concluded there were no grounds for a criminal referral. Powell remains on the Fed board as a governor with a term running through January 2028, and the Fed's Board of Governors declined to comment.

On the same day, Trump touted a string of economic announcements ahead of the 2026 midterms, including a $54 billion Alaskan pipeline project, and he and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appeared together to announce major U.S. energy investments. Trump also acknowledged publicly that he had done a "bad job" explaining his economic record to voters.

Separately, Trump highlighted what he called historic flows of oil through the Strait of Hormuz over the preceding three days, connecting the development to Iran, and posted comments about Iraq. Crude markets have been sensitive to U.S.-Iran tensions since the broader regional conflict began earlier this year. On the legislative front, Senate Democrats and Republicans announced a long-awaited bipartisan deal, dubbed the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, to speed up permitting for infrastructure and energy projects, including expedited approvals for high-voltage transmission lines and requirements for data center developers to cover their own energy transmission costs. A separate Senate bill addressing data center costs was blocked on the same day.