SHADY: Fed Sidesteps Request from Trump Officials to Tour Renovations, Releases 'Virtual Visit' Instead | JP

On Jul 22, 2025

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell just pulled an incredibly suspicious move in response to requests from Trump officials to tour the very questionable $2.5 billion building renovations project in-person.

Federal Housing Director William (Bill) Pulte was offered to tour the renovations on Friday night, when nobody was working.

Pulte said on X:

Per The White House’s James Blair, Jerome Powell offered Our Group a Tour at 7pm last evening, when no one was doing so called renovations. Very disappointing! Yet another example of Powell dodging. Makes one even more concerned — where did this Billion $2.5 go?@JamesBlairUSA

— Pulte (@pulte) July 19, 2025

Then, today, the Fed declined another request from Trump officials to tour the site.

The White House wanted to schedule an in-person visit, during the day, sometime this week.

Per JP:

The White House is continuing its reviews of the Fed building project and officials hope to schedule a visit this week, a White House official said on Monday.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair, one of three administration officials newly appointed to the National Capital Planning Commission, told reporters last week that officials from the White House and Office of Management and Budget as well as several lawmakers want to visit the facility during the day.

Instead, they were directed to a “virtual site visit.”

You’ve got to be kidding me…

White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair posted:

Instead of granting us our site visit, the Fed today released a “virtual site visit” video.

What do they not want us to see?

Fed Defends Renovations as Trump Administration Intensifies Attacks – The New York Times https://t.co/HUPEJm7Qdc

— James Blair (@JamesBlairUSA) July 21, 2025

And, in case you’re curious, here’s the video tour straight from the Federal Reserve’s Youtube:

Why would they do this unless they were hiding something?

The New York Times has more on the “virtual tour” the Fed released today:

The Federal Reserve took additional steps on Monday to defend the renovations underway at its headquarters in Washington, as top Trump administration officials show little sign of backing down from allegations that the roughly $2.5 billion project has been mismanaged.

The central bank published a virtual tour of the active construction site on Monday, including footage of asbestos caulking being removed and blast resistant windows being installed. The Fed, which has said it has scaled back its initial plans, highlighted changes made to a 2021 proposal submitted to a little-known planning board.

The Fed’s renovation has become central to the administration’s attempts to undermine and potentially oust Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the central bank. The White House has also accused the central bank of straying beyond its congressional mandated goals of fostering stable inflation and a healthy labor market, citing its work on climate-related issues, for example.

This all comes amid growing calls to remove Jerome Powell from his position as Federal Reserve Chair.

If his multi-billion dollar renovations project is found to be fraudulent, then it would give clear cause to do so.

Powell has already been referred to the DOJ for alleged perjury.