MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Since his return to office, President Trump has repeatedly lashed out at the Federal Reserve chairman whom he appointed, Jerome Powell. He's called him names and hinted at firing him, all trying to pressure the central bank to lower interest rates. Over the weekend, Powell announced that he was under investigation by the Justice Department. Critics call this just the latest example of Trump using the law enforcement agency to serve his political agenda. NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas has been following the story. He's with us now to tell us more about it. Good morning.
RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: So let's start with Powell. What do we know about the investigation?
LUCAS: Well, Powell said in a video statement late Sunday that the Fed had received grand jury subpoenas related to his congressional testimony about renovations to the central bank's headquarters. Powell said the renovations are just a pretext for this investigation. He said what this is really about is the president and his administration trying to dictate interest rates instead of the Fed setting them based on its own independent assessment. In other words, Powell says this is political pressure. It's intimidation to try to bend the Fed to the president's will.
MARTIN: Has the Justice Department or has the president said anything about the Powell investigation?
LUCAS: Well, the U.S. attorney for Washington D.C., Jeanine Pirro, last night said in a post on social media that her office contacted the Fed several times to try to talk about cost overruns, but were ignored. So she said they had to issue subpoenas. She said it's not a threat and that her office makes decisions based only on the merits. Trump - for his part, he told NBC News that he was not aware of this investigation.
MARTIN: And what about in Congress? Any reaction there?
LUCAS: Well, it's interesting. The reaction hasn't cut cleanly along party lines in Congress. Yes, we have seen Democrats sharply criticize this. Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, who's the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee - he slammed this investigation. He said Trump wants to, quote, "weaponize every tool of government against perceived opponents," end quote. And he said the Justice Department is doing exactly that.
More notable, though, is that some Republicans are also pushing back on this Powell investigation and raising questions about the Justice Department - North Carolina's Thom Tillis, for example. He said that this is a clear push to end the Fed's independence. He said it's now the independence and credibility of the Justice Department that are in question. Alaska's Lisa Murkowski called the investigation coercion. That's her word. And she said Congress needs to investigate the Justice Department if the department thinks a criminal investigation over renovation cost overruns is really merited. So there are clearly concerns from some Republicans about the Justice Department's actions here.
MARTIN: And on this question of how the Powell investigation fits into how the Justice Department is operating in Trump's second term, it seems that a number of people have thoughts about that.
LUCAS: Right. There's really a question about the perceived weaponization or politicization of the department under Attorney General Pam Bondi. There is certainly a growing list of individuals who have been critics or at odds with Trump who have found themselves under investigation by the Justice Department. Two obvious examples here are former FBI Director James Comey and New York State Attorney General Letitia James. They were both indicted by an acting U.S. attorney who was handpicked by Trump. Both of those cases were ultimately tossed by a federal judge who found the prosecutor had been unlawfully appointed.
The Justice Department, though, is also investigating California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, another prominent Trump critic. Also, Fed Governor Lisa Cook, who Trump tried to fire last year - she is also separately under Justice Department Investigation. That is not even an exhaustive list. So Powell is joining an already lengthy list of high-profile folks who are either Trump critics or who appear to stand in the way of his agenda, who are facing a Justice Department investigation.
MARTIN: That is NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas. Ryan, thank you.
LUCAS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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