Federal Reserve chief schools Trump in excruciating live fact-check
The expensive reno involves two grand Washington buildings, constructed in the 1930s, and is scheduled for completion in 2027. By then, Powell will no longer be the Fed chair – his term finishes in May.
Taking their tour, Trump and Powell stood beside each other in matching white hard hats, in what looked like a deleted scene from The Odd Couple.
'It looks like it's about $US3.1 billion. It went up a little bit. Or a lot,' Trump said of the renovation cost. Powell, who had been staring grimly at the floor, turned to the president and began shaking his head.
'I'm not aware of that,' the banker said. 'It just came out,' Trump replied. Powell added: 'I haven't heard that from anybody at the Fed.'
Turns out the figure 'just came out' of Trump's jacket pocket, from which the president withdrew a document that Powell then inspected, quizzically, after donning his glasses. It took him just a few seconds to realise the ruse – Trump was trying to conflate two separate projects.
Loading
'Oh, you're including the Martin renovation,' Powell said, referring to the refurbishment of another building, which was completed in 2021. 'You just added in a third building, is what that is.'
'It's a building that's being built,' Trump said. 'No, it was built five years ago,' Powell corrected. 'We finished Martin five years ago … it's not new.'
Unfazed, Trump turned it over to questions. Asked by a reporter what he, as a real estate developer, would do with a project manager who presided over such budget blowouts, Trump adopted his trademark phrase (and tone) from his days on reality TV show The Apprentice.
'I'd fire 'em,' he said.
Asked whether there was anything Powell could say to him that would cause him to back off from his personal attacks, Trump said: 'I'd love him to lower interest rates', and then slapped the bank chairman on the back.
And, in an audacious display from someone who has spent weeks calling him every name in the book, Trump batted away suggestions that he might try to fire Powell.
'I don't want to be personal,' he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
14 minutes ago
- Perth Now
US could demand thousands in bonds for tourist visas
The US could require thousands of dollars-worth of bonds for some tourist and business visas under a pilot program launching in two weeks, a government notice said, an effort that aims to crack down on visitors who overstay their visas. The program gives US consular officers the discretion to impose bonds of up to $US15,000 ($A23,200) on visitors from countries with high rates of visa overstays, according to a Federal Register notice. Bonds could also be applied to people coming from countries where screening and vetting information is deemed insufficient, the notice said. President Donald Trump has made cracking down on illegal immigration a focus of his presidency, boosting resources to secure the border and arresting people in the US illegally. He issued a travel ban in June that fully or partially blocks citizens of 19 nations from entering the US on national security grounds. Trump's immigration policies have led some visitors to skip travel to the United States. Transatlantic airfares dropped to rates last seen before the COVID-19 pandemic in May and travel from Canada and Mexico to the US fell by 20 per cent year-on-year. Effective August 20, the new visa program will last for approximately a year, the government notice said. Consular officers will have three options for visa applicants subjected to the bonds: $US5,000 ($A7,750), $US10,000 ($A15,500) or $US15,000 ($A23,200), but will generally be expected to require at least $US10,000 ($A15,500), it said. A similar pilot program was launched in November 2020 during the last months of Trump's first term in office, but it was not fully implemented due to the drop in global travel associated with the pandemic, the notice said. The State Department was unable to estimate the number of visa applicants who could be affected by the change. Many of the countries targeted by Trump's travel ban also have high rates of visa overstays, including Chad, Eritrea, Haiti, Myanmar and Yemen. Numerous countries in Africa, including Burundi, Djibouti and Togo also had high overstay rates, according to US Customs and Border Protection data from fiscal year 2023.
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Russia downplays Trump's nuclear submarine move after Medvedev comments
The Kremlin has downplayed the significance of US President Donald Trump's order to move nuclear submarines, while issuing a warning that everyone should be "very, very careful" about nuclear rhetoric. Mr Trump ordered two of the US Navy's submarines to reposition after former Russian president and current deputy chairperson of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, made comments online about a nuclear exchange. In the first public comments on Mr Trump's move, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters it was "obvious that American submarines are already on combat duty". "But in general, of course, we would not want to get involved in such a controversy and would not want to comment on it in any way," he added. "Of course, we believe that everyone should be very, very careful with nuclear rhetoric." Mr Medvedev's comments last week and Mr Trump's response were the latest in a string of back-and-forth exchanges between the two men. When Mr Trump imposed a deadline on Moscow to end the war in Ukraine or face further sanctions, including on buyers of its exports, Mr Medvedev accused him of playing a "game of ultimatums" and moving a step closer to war between Russia and the US. Mr Trump retorted: "Tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he's still President, to watch his words. He's entering very dangerous territory!" Mr Medvedev waded in again last Thursday, saying the US president had had a "nervous reaction" which showed Russia was on the right course, before referring again to Moscow's nuclear capabilities. Mr Trump delivered his statement the following day on posting US nuclear submarines in "the appropriate regions", since when Mr Medvedev has not posted again. Russian opposition figures have dismissed the former Russian president's outpourings as sad, impotent rants, according to Reuters. However, some Western diplomats say they give a flavour of the thinking in Kremlin policy-making circles. Until now, they have rarely provoked a direct response from Western leaders. Mr Peskov declined to answer directly when asked whether the Kremlin had tried to warn Medvedev to tone down his online statements. "The main thing, of course, is the position of President Putin," he said. The episode comes at a delicate moment, with Mr Trump threatening to impose new sanctions on Russia and buyers of its oil, including India and China, unless President Vladimir Putin agrees by Friday to end the war in Ukraine. Mr Trump, who frequently promised to end the war within 24 hours while campaigning for the US presidency last year, has spoken admiringly of Mr Putin in the past but voiced increasing frustration with him of late. The Russian president said last week that peace talks had made some positive progress but that Russia had the momentum in the war, signalling no shift in his position despite the looming deadline. Mr Trump has said he may send his envoy Steve Witkoff to Russia on Wednesday or Thursday. Witkoff has held long conversations with Putin on several previous visits but failed to persuade him to agree to a ceasefire. The Kremlin declined to say if his latest proposed trip was taking place at Moscow's request, and did not say what it hoped might emerge from it. "We are always happy to see Mr Witkoff in Moscow and we are always happy to have contacts with Mr Witkoff. We consider them important, meaningful and very useful," Mr Peskov said. Reuters
West Australian
3 hours ago
- West Australian
Wall St springs higher after tumultuous sell-off
Wall Street's main indexes have risen, clawing back losses from the previous session's tumble as hopes for deeper Federal Reserve rate cuts surged in the wake of an unexpectedly weak jobs report. In early trading on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 301.22 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 43,889.80, the S&P 500 gained 48.91 points, or 0.78 per cent, to 6,286.21 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 205.12 points, or 0.99 per cent, at 20,855.25. A dismal US jobs report hammered the S&P 500 on Friday, sending the index to its steepest intraday drop in more than two months, while downward revisions for May and June also compounded the blow. The bleak data did not just trigger the market selloff but also forced a dramatic rethink of the Fed's rate trajectory. Traders, who had been leaning toward another pause in September, are now seeing an 85 per cent chance of a rate cut, as signs of a weakening labour market pile up. By the end of the year, markets expect at least two quarter-point cuts - a prospect that ultimately helped steady Wall Street. The CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, fell to 18.45 points, after surging to an over one-month high during Friday's rout. Investors also weighed Fed Governor Adriana Kugler's unexpected resignation that could open the door for President Donald Trump to put his stamp on the central bank's leadership sooner than expected. Trump, a vocal critic of the Fed's policy, has repeatedly threatened to oust Chair Jerome Powell. "If we get to a point where Jerome Powell was pushed out earlier than he's expected to go anywhere, that is going to unsettle markets, and that is possibly the pill that they won't swallow," said Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell. Meanwhile, Tesla rose 2.6 per cent after granting CEO Elon Musk 96 million shares worth about $29 billion. All S&P 500 sub-sectors were trading in the green, with technology surging 1.1 per cent, emerging as the top performer. Lyft gained 2.9 per cent after partnering with China's Baidu to deploy robotaxis across Europe starting next year. US factory orders data for June is due at 10:00 am ET. Tuesday's business activity report and Thursday's jobless claims figures are the only other key economic indicators in this data-light week. After a big week for Big Tech earnings, companies from various sectors, including Palantir, Eli Lilly, and Disney, will report this week. Of the 330 S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings as of Friday, 80.6 per cent have surpassed analyst expectations, the highest beat rate since the third quarter of 2023, according to data compiled by LSEG I/B/E/S. Among early movers, Joby Aviation rose 17.5 per cent after Bloomberg News reported that the company was exploring the acquisition of helicopter ride-share operator Blade Air Mobility . Blade Air's shares surged 25.4 per cent. Spotify gained 7.6 per cent as the music streaming platform announced plans to raise the monthly price of its premium individual subscription in select markets from September. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.77-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 3.02-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 posted five new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 29 new highs and 26 new lows.
