According to White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell offered a private tour to his group at 7 p.m. on Friday, well outside regular hours and during a time when no so-called “renovations” were taking place. The move raises serious concerns and fuels growing worries about transparency and accountability at the Fed. With $2.5 billion in taxpayer dollars reportedly allocated for renovations, Americans deserve answers, not secretive tours and dodged questions.

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Per The White House’s James Blair, Jerome Powell offered Our Group a Tour at 7pm last evening, when no one was doing so called renovations. Very disappointing! Yet another example of Powell dodging. Makes one even more concerned — where did this Billion $2.5 go?@JamesBlairUSA

— Pulte (@pulte) July 19, 2025

Blair called for an immediate site visit, stating, “They should show us all the revisions and just let us see what’s actually going on—and whether what Chair Powell told the Senate Banking Committee is even true.” He questioned the staggering cost of the Federal Reserve’s headquarters renovation, which is reportedly more than double the per-square-foot cost of any other historic building project. Blair also highlighted that the price tag is 25 percent higher than what it cost to build the entire U.S. Capitol, despite the Capitol being five times larger and accommodating five times as many staff.

Why is the Federal Reserve’s HQ renovation costing more than twice the amount per square foot of any other historic building renovation?

$2.5B and counting!

25% more than U.S. Capitol cost to construct - a building that has 5x the sq ft and houses 5x the staff! pic.twitter.com/vHrJzkCGaO

— James Blair (@JamesBlairUSA) July 19, 2025

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On Friday, during an interview, Pulte criticized Powell, saying that he is "sitting there like an obnoxious, arrogant, pompous person, saying I'm gonna keep these rates high." He called for Powell to resign, arguing that he sees inflation where it doesn't exist. 

"He goes into a room, he sees a ghost, and nobody else sees the ghost, which is that tariffs cause inflation," Powell said. "He's a bad guy. There's gonna be more coming out." 

This follows comments from Pulte, who stated that several members of Congress may issue criminal referrals against Jerome Powell after he allegedly lied about the $2.5 billion “renovation” of the Federal Reserve building.