Luna Accuses Fed Chairman Jerome Powell of Perjury

The controversy stems from a Fed renovation project that went over budget, but many suspect it may be a covert tactic designed to push Jerome Powell out of the central bank.

Did Jerome Powell Commit Perjury? Lawmakers Demand Accountability

Florida Republican Anna Paulina Luna accused Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell of perjury in a Thursday post on X. But is the Congresswoman genuinely concerned about Powell’s renovation of two Federal Reserve buildings or is she simply playing offense for the president who has publicly threatened to fire Powell on multiple occasions?

“I am criminally referring Jerome Powell to the DOJ to investigate perjury regarding his crazy $2.5BN building,” Luna wrote, exactly a week after another Trump loyalist Russell Vought, director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), sent a letter to Powell alleging the Fed Chair lied to lawmakers during a June 25 hearing before the Senate Banking Committee.

(Jerome Powell is now squarely in the Trump administration’s crosshairs after accusations of perjury were leveled against the Fed chair on Thursday) “The President is extremely troubled by your management of the Federal Reserve System,” Vought’s letter reads. “Instead of attempting to right the Fed’s fiscal ship, you have plowed ahead with an ostentatious overhaul of your Washington D.C. headquarters.”

Vought claims Powell told Congress that one of the central bank buildings in question, the Eccles, had never been renovated. Yet according to Vought, the Eccles “underwent a comprehensive renovation between 1999-2003.” Vought also claims Powell ordered the construction of luxury perks as part of the overhaul, including a “VIP dining room,” “special elevators,” and “beehives,” assertions that Powell flatly denied. If the Fed Chair did indeed lie about the renovations during his testimony, Luna’s threat to pursue a perjury charge would be warranted.

But Powell responded to Vought’s accusations with his own letter on Thursday, undermining what many see as a malicious ploy to pressure Powell to either cut rates as per the president’s wish or resign.

“There are no special, private, or VIP elevators being constructed as part of the project,” Powell wrote. “The original elevators of the Eccles Building are being rehabilitated…A short (eighteen-inch) extension of this rehabilitated elevator will make the space more accessible for people with disabilities.”

Bitcoin.com reached out to the Federal Reserve to inquire about the alleged beehives, which were not addressed in Powell’s response, but the central bank had not yet responded at the time of publication.

(Asbestos remediation in the Eccles building, one of the two Federal Reserve buildings undergoing renovations. / U.S. Federal Reserve Board) U.S. President Donald Trump hasn’t been shy about his low opinion of the Fed chair, calling him “dumb” and “stupid” for not cutting rates so that the Federal government can save “one trillion dollars a year” on its debt servicing payments.

Earlier in the week on Tuesday, a rumor circulated claiming Trump had made a verbal commitment to get rid of Powell for being overly hawkish. The New York Times even reported that “the president brandished a draft of a letter firing the Fed chair.” Trump later denied the rumors.

“We’re not planning on doing it,” the president said, before adding, “I won’t rule anything out.”

And now it appears not ruling anything out may have meant Trump is willing to send his most devout stalwarts to pin Powell into submission.