WashingtonTrump demanded Powell resign after a watchdog cleared him.
Powell, chair until May, can remain a Fed governor until January 2028.
The Federal Reserve Act lets a president remove Fed officials only for cause, long read as gross negligence or dereliction of duty.
The inspector general did find poor management: no cost estimate until January 2026 and no guaranteed maximum price on a roughly $2.4bn project.
Trump has told Attorney General Todd Blanche to study the report and says Powell should be sued otherwise.
How each outlet framed it
drawn from 100+ reports worldwide
- The New York Times
- reconstructs Trump's political motivation using renovation costs to pressure Fed Chair Powell into rate cuts
- The Guardian leans critical
- foregrounds Trump's political weaponization via site photo-op (hard hats) to attack Powell during rate pressure
- Hindustan Times
- emphasizes GOP resistance — Trump's party refused to confirm successor unless criminal probe was stopped
- Yahoo News
- Al Jazeera Online
- cites federal judge validation that DOJ investigation was pretext for political pressure on Fed independence
Sources: The New York Times, The Guardian, Hindustan Times, Yahoo News, Al Jazeera Online