Live Updates: Trump visits Fed as DOJ eyes Epstein ally Maxwell
27 minutes ago
11:43 EDT
Howard Schneider and Ann Saphir
The spiraling cost of the Federal Reserve's years-long renovation of two historic buildings in Washington, D.C., has become the latest flashpoint in the Trump administration's escalating pressure campaign on Powell.
Here are five things to know about the renovations:
1. What are the buildings the Fed is renovating?
They are the Eccles Building, constructed between 1935 and 1937 as the Fed's headquarters, and the 1951 Constitution Avenue Building, completed in 1932 for the U.S. Public Health Service.
2. How much are they over budget?
Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, says the cost overrun is "$700 million and counting." The Fed's budget shows the project's current estimated cost at $2.46 billion up from $1.88 billion in 2024, a difference of about $580 million.
The document also shows that the Fed eliminated the planned renovation of a third building, cutting about $510 million in costs.
3. Why are they over budget?
Higher-than-estimated labor and materials costs, design changes to preserve the historic buildings and their appearance, and unforeseen problems including lead contamination in the ground and higher-than-anticipated amounts of asbestos.
4. What needs to be done?
The buildings required new plumbing, electrical, heating, water, and other infrastructure, as well as updating to allow access for people with disabilities, a basement for one of the buildings and an addition for the other to make enough room for existing staff currently occupying other leased offices.
5. Who has oversight of the project?
The Fed by law has authority to determine its spending on capital projects. Its Office of Inspector General receives monthly reports on the project, conducted a review in 2021, and is now charged with conducting a fresh review.
Who was Jeffrey Epstein?
32 minutes ago
11:38 EDT
Epstein was a well-connected and wealthy U.S. financier and convicted sex offender.
Known for socializing with politicians, celebrities and royalty, he once counted Trump and former President Bill Clinton as friends.
But the former hedge fund manager faced years of allegations that he sexually abused girls and young women. He first came under investigation in 2005.
In 2008, he pleaded guilty to Florida state charges of unlawfully paying a teenage girl for sex.
He was arrested on July 6, 2019 at a New Jersey airport after taking a private plane from Paris and pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking involving dozens of underage girls as young as 14, from at least 2002 to 2005.
Epstein was found dead on August 10, 2019 in a New York jail cell where he was being held without bail. He was 66. The cause of death was ruled as suicide by hanging.
Prosecutors said a search of his townhouse, conducted under a warrant, uncovered evidence of hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of nude photographs of 'what appeared to be underage girls,' including some photos catalogued on compact discs and kept in a locked safe.
The case was dismissed after his death.
One of the most high-profile people associated with Epstein was Britain's Prince Andrew who was forced to step aside from public duties in 2019 over his association with the financier. Andrew has always denied any accusations of wrongdoing.
Sarah N. Lynch, Karen Freifeld and Brendan Pierson.
US DOJ to meet with Epstein associate Maxwell
11:31 EDT
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Tuesday he expected to meet with in Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's long-time associate, in coming days.
Maxwell, a British socialite and Epstein's longtime girlfriend, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted of sex trafficking in 2021.
Epstein, a disgraced financier and sex offender, killed himself in a jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
Several media outlets have reported that Maxwell is speaking with U.S. prosecutors on Thursday.
Blanche has said if Maxwell "has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say."
The possible meeting comes as Attorney General Pam Bondi has faced mounting pressure from Trump's supporters to release additional materials related to Epstein.
Trump knew Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s.
During Mazwell's 2021 trial, the financier's longtime pilot, Lawrence Visoski, testified that Trump flew on Epstein's private plane multiple times. Trump has denied being on the plane.
Trump to visit the Federal Reserve Thursday
an hour ago
11:23 EDT
U.S. President Donald Trump, a robust critic of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, will visit the central bank on Thursday, the White House said.
It's a surprise move that escalates tension between the administration and the Fed.
Trump has lambasted Powell repeatedly for not cutting U.S. interest rates more aggressively, calling him a "numbskull" on Tuesday and musing publicly about firing him.
Adding fuel to Trump's ire, White House officials have accused the Fed of mismanaging the renovation of two historic buildings in Washington, D.C., suggesting poor oversight and potential fraud.
In a schedule released to the media on Wednesday night, the White House said Trump would visit the Fed at 4 p.m. (2000 GMT).
It did not say whether Trump would meet with Powell.
Trump's public criticism of Powell and flirtation with firing him have previously upset financial markets and threatened a key underpinning of the global financial system - that central banks are independent and free from political meddling.
We'll have the latest updates on all things Fed and Trump live on this page, stay with us.
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One, Trump Turnberry and the other Trump International in Aberdeen, where he is set to open a brand new course that will be named for his late mother, Mary Anne McLeod Trump, who was born in Scotland. And that's the problem for Trump, thanks to a particular member of the Royal family who happens to be a golf-loving frequenter of his courses, is Scotland's Earl of Inverness — and who also happens to be tainted by his past close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein... Prince Andrew. Trump Turnberry, in fact, still boasts of its visits from Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, who was forced to stand down from royal duties in 2020 over his links to Epstein. The former Royal Navy officer — currently eighth in line to the British throne — had a long and controversial relationship with with the late sex offender that predated Epstein's 2008 conviction for soliciting a teenage prostitute but also which continued long after the financier became a pariah in most respectable circles. Andrew's habit of staying at Epstein's residences during travel to the U.S. became fodder for controversy even as the royal claimed there was nothing untoward about the relationship and has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. But the whispers and rumors took on a more urgent character after Andrew became the defendant in a civil lawsuit brought by the late Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, who alleged that the Duke once had sexual relations with her after she was trafficked to him as a minor by Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. Although Buckingham Palace asserted in a 2015 statement that Giuffre's allegations — which included claims that she'd had sexual relations with the Duke on three separate occasions — were 'categorically untrue,' the Duke and Giuffre ended up settling the lawsuit, with no admission of liability, in February 2022, one month after Andrew's royal patronages and honorary military titles were revoked by his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II. Prince Andrew has always strongly denied the allegations leveled against him by Giuffre. Giuffre, perhaps the most outspoken survivor of Epstein's sexual abuse, died by suicide at the age of 41 in April. 'It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia,' Giuffre's family said in a statement to The Independent after she died. 'She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.' Since then, Andrew has largely remained out of the spotlight with his reputation tarred by his association with the late sex offender. But that disgrace doesn't appear to bother Trump or his eponymous real estate and resort company, which as of this week still lists Andrew as one of the 'famous visitors' who have enjoyed the 'refined hospitality' at Trump Turnberry. His Aberdeenshire golf resort has even deeper connections to the prince, who played a major role in convincing Trump to build it in 2006, less than a decade before his entry onto the American political scene. According to Agence France-Presse, Andrew met with Trump at the his eponymous New York skyscraper in September of that year to cajole the developer into moving forward with the Aberdeen golf project. He later said the Prince was a 'great guy' who'd made a 'terrific impression' on him. 'He gave a presentation here to make sure I spend one billion pounds in your country, and that's what I'm going to be doing,' Trump added, according to the report. The relationship between the prince and the future president continued for the intervening decade, and when Trump visited Scotland during his second year in the White House, Andrew joined him for a round of golf at Turnberry — a round Trump later claimed to have won. The pair remained cordial enough that when President Trump visited the U.K. for a state visit in his first term in 2019, Andrew was his designated royal escort. The president's escape to his ancestral homeland comes as there continues to be bipartisan furor around Department of Justice records about Epstein, a one-time power-player financier and convicted pedophile who was arrested for alleged sex trafficking by federal authorities in 2019 and was found to have died by suicide in his jail cell while awaiting trial. The years-old prosecution has been a longtime fixation for many of Trump's MAGA supporters who believe they contain damaging information on prominent Democrats and other liberal celebrities. For years, the president's supporters have pushed for release of what they believe was a list of powerful people to whom Epstein is alleged to have trafficked young girls, as well as other information they believe would reflect negatively on members of the Democratic Party, various Hollywood celebrities, and other purported elites who they believe to be part of a sinister cabal controlling world events. Trump has winked and nodded at such beliefs and had indicated during his 2024 campaign that his administration would release the documents in question if he were victorious in last year's presidential election. But many of his most prominent supporters have been crying foul in recent weeks after the Department of Justice announced it would not be releasing the so-called Epstein Files. And Democrats are now joining the chorus of calls for transparency, citing Trump's likely presence in the documents on account of his long-term friendship with Epstein. Trump socialized with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, but reportedly cut ties before Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18. While Trump has not been accused of any formal wrongdoing or charged with any crime, his proximity to Epstein, someone he once called a friend, has heightened conspiracy theories that the government is withholding documents that could reveal embarrassing information about high-profile individuals. Still, being named in the so-called Epstein list of contacts or case files is not an indication of any wrongdoing and Trump has denied having any knowledge of Epstein's crimes before he ended their friendship as has Bill Clinton. Trump has also sued the Wall Street Journal for defamation over its reporting that he sent a bawdy 50th birthday message to Epstein. Clinton, likewise, was reportedly one of many who sent messages to the financier on that occasion. On Thursday, Trump made yet another effort to dissuade his base from caring about the Epstein matter by lashing out on Truth Social, calling the entire affair a 'scam' and a 'hoax' and stating that he hopes the release of grand jury testimony about the late sex offender will quell the entire thing. But if the president is hoping to gain some distance from the scandal with some time on the links, he's gone to the wrong golf courses.
