'Other than dying' - Fed's Powell won't leave voluntarily, even defying criminal referral

Jerome Powell told his allies he would not leave the Federal Reserve unless he died. That’s exactly how far he said he is willing to go to finish his four-year term, no matter what pressure Donald Trump threw at him.

The statement is detailed in Trillion Dollar Triage by Nick Timiraos, who reported Powell’s private refusal to walk away even under threat. Powell told people behind the scenes:

“You will not see me getting in the lifeboat. I will never, ever, ever leave this job voluntarily until my term ends under any circumstances. None, whatsoever. It doesn’t occur to me in the slightest that there would be any situation in which I would not complete my term other than dying.”

Powell’s resistance was tested publicly in 2019, when Trump was loudly criticizing Powell’s handling of interest rates. At a hearing held by the House Financial Services Committee, chaired by California Democrat Maxine Waters, Powell was asked directly how he’d respond if Trump called to fire him.

“Mr. Chairman, if you got a call from the president today or tomorrow, and he said, ‘I’m firing you. Pack up, it’s time to go,’ what would you do?” Waters asked. Powell said, “Well, of course I would not do that.” When Waters said she couldn’t hear him, Powell repeated himself: “My answer would be ‘no.’”

She followed up again: “And you would not pack up and you would not leave?” Powell answered, “No, ma’am.” When asked if that was because he believed the president lacked the authority, he said, “What I’ve said is that the law clearly gives me a four-year term, and I fully intend to serve it.”

Powell faces criminal referral over renovation testimony

Now in 2025, Powell is facing heat again, this time not just from Trump, but from the entire Capitol Hill. On Thursday, Chairman of the Board of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Bill Pulte, posted on X that Powell could be criminally referred to the Justice Department for alleged perjury.

“I am told by very reliable Congressional sources that there may be a criminal referral coming from one or more Congress members to the DOJ for Jay Powell’s alleged perjury about the $2.5BN building,” Pulte wrote.

Just an hour later, Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna did exactly that. She formally referred Powell to the DOJ, accusing him of misleading Congress about the Federal Reserve’s $2.5 billion headquarters renovation in Washington, D.C.

Powell had testified during last month’s Senate Banking Committee hearing that the cost overruns were due to unavoidable construction challenges and inflation. Lawmakers weren’t buying it, with some describing the project as excessive.

CNN reported that Powell had asked the Fed’s inspector general to carry out an additional review of the building project, which was originally approved by the Fed’s board in 2017 with a price tag of $1.9 billion.

Construction began in 2021, but the cost rose to $2.5 billion due to what Powell described as “unforeseen conditions.” These included “more asbestos than anticipated,” “toxic contamination in soil,” and a “higher-than-expected water table,” as outlined on the Fed’s official website.

Trump says Powell’s building scandal might justify firing

During the Senate hearing, Powell told lawmakers, “There’s no new marble. There’s no special elevators. They’re old elevators that have been there. There are no new water features. There’s no beehives and there’s no roof garden terraces.”

He said the money wasn’t being wasted on luxury features and clarified that taxpayers weren’t paying for the project. “The Fed is funding the renovation,” Powell said, confirming the estimated final cost at approximately $2.5 billion.

Despite all the legal insulation Powell believes he has, Trump has said that the renovation saga might be enough grounds to fire Powell “for fraud,” though he added it was “highly unlikely.” Even so, the comment adds to the mounting political scrutiny Powell is now dealing with.

So while Powell has never budged in the face of political threats and once claimed only death would stop him from serving his full term, Congress and Trump may both test how far that commitment really goes. But as of now, Powell hasn’t even taken the bait to clap back publicly.

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