President Donald Trump visited the Federal Reserve amid a multi-billion-dollar renovation project, projecting a sense of disapproval over what appeared to be cost overruns.
“We’re just taking a look at what’s happening,” Trump told reporters in Washington.
He was flanked by Republican Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), who serves as the Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who appeared sour-faced standing beside Trump.
Powell has been the target of much criticism from President Trump, consistently calling on him to lower the high interest rates in America. As reported by RSBN, Trump has even assigned Powell a nickname: “Too Late.”
“Sleepy Joe saw how bad he was and reappointed him anyway – And the Fed Board has done nothing to stop this ‘numbskull’ from hurting so many people,” Trump also remarked last week.
During Thursday’s Federal Reserve tour, Trump told reporters that the multi-billion-dollar project was set to clock in at a cost of about $3.1 billion, despite previous reports that it would cost around $2.5 billion.
President Trump seemed dissatisfied with this potential cost overrun, which Powell immediately disputed as cameras rolled.
“It just came out,” Trump said of the numbers.
Powell denied this, commenting, “I’m not aware of that.” This prompted the president to pull a piece of paper out of his pocket, which he then handed to the Fed chair.
Sen. Scott concurred with the president’s statement on $3.1 billion.
“You just added in a third building,” Powell said, stating that it was finished five years ago.
However, Trump said that the building was “part of the overall” project, hence why it was factored into the broader project cost.
“Do you expect any more cost overruns?” Trump asked.
“Don’t expect them, but we have a little bit of a reserve that we may use,” Powell said.
On a funnier note, Trump was asked by one reporter what, as a real estate developer, he would do with a project manager who went over budget. “Generally speaking, what would I do? I’d fire him,” Trump remarked.
