Bringing charges against the Fed: What we do (and don’t) know

By PAUL WISEMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has dramatically escalated his confrontation with the Federal Reserve, his Justice Department investigating and threatening a criminal indictment of the independent central bank and serving it with subpoenas.

The dispute is ostensibly about Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony to Congress in June over the cost of a massive renovation of Fed buildings. But in a statement Sunday, Powell, abandoning his previous attempt to ignore Trump’s relentless criticism, called the administration’s threat of criminal charges “pretexts’’ in the president’s campaign to seize control of U.S. interest rate policy from the Fed’s technocrats.

Trump has repeatedly criticized Powell and the Fed for not moving faster to cut rates. Economists warn that a politicized Fed that caves in to the president’s demands will damage its credibility as an inflation fighter and likely lead investors to demand higher rates before investing in U.S. Treasurys.

Here’s what to know about the dispute:

The threat of charges arises from a $2.5 billion Fed renovation project

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