Trump team ramps up attack on Fed's Powell with criminal indictment threat

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has ramped up its pressure campaign on the Federal Reserve, threatening to indict Chair Jerome Powell over comments to Congress about a building renovation project, an action Powell called a "pretext" to gain more influence over interest rates Trump wants cut dramatically.
The latest development in a long-running effort by Trump for greater control over the Fed had immediate fallout, with Republican Senator Thom Tillis, a member of the Senate Banking Committee that vets Presidential nominees for the Fed, saying the threatened indictment puts the Department of Justice's "independence and credibility" in question. Tillis said he would oppose any Trump nominees to the Fed, including the coming choice of successor to Powell as chair, "until this legal matter is fully resolved."