The independence of the U.S. Federal Reserve is at stake |
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, more than any other single figure, stands in the way of Donald Trump’s desire to bring the Fed under his personal control.Nathan Howard/Reuters
Which is the most ludicrous part of the Trump administration’s attempt to portray the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, as a criminal? Is it the suggestion that the distinguished 35-year public servant somehow took it into his head, at the end of a career unmarked by any previous stain on his integrity, to try to smuggle a $2.5-billion renovation project past the Congress?
Is it the sudden insistence on frankness and transparency from an administration that lies as easily as it breathes? Is it the profession of horror at the thought of people in high office constructing grandiose and unnecessary buildings at public expense? Or is it the pretense that the decision to bring charges was all the work of Jeanine Pirro, the former Fox News host who is notionally U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia?
It’s all nonsense, obviously. The Trump administration’s penchant for siccing the justice department on its political enemies is well known, and when I say........