President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly attacked Jerome Powell and discussed trying to fire him, sought to discredit the Federal Reserve Chairman during a visit to view renovation work Trump has derided as over budget. But as the cameras rolled, Powell pushed back in real time, correcting the president’s false claims.
Both men, wearing construction hard hats, toured the Fed’s renovations—partly over budget due to demands made by Trump appointees—on Thursday afternoon. Trump told the Chairman he is over budget by $3.1 billion, a figure far greater than the $2.5 billion that recent news reports have shown.
“It looks like it’s about $3.1 billion. It went up a little bit—or a lot,” Trump said as Powell definitively shook his head no. “So the $2.7 is now $3.1.”
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“I’m not aware of that,” Powell declared.
“It just came out,” Trump insisted.
“I haven’t heard that from anybody,” Powell responded.
“Yeah, it just came out,” Trump again insisted.
Looking at a piece of paper Trump handed him, Powell replied, “You’re including the Martin renovation. You just added in a third building is what that is. That’s a third building.”
“It’s a building that’s being built,” Trump claimed.
“No, it was built five years ago,” Powell replied.
Critics praised Powell and blasted the president.
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“This exchange perfectly captures Trump’s relationship with facts: improvise first, verify never,” wrote investment banker Evaristus Odinikaeze. “Powell calmly fact-checking him in real time is the leadership contrast America needs more of. Glad he stood his ground while Trump embarrassed himself.”
“This is amazing,” added HuffPost White House correspondent S.V. Dáte. “He says insanely stupid and flat-out wrong stuff in front of world leaders, members of Congress, the media, and so on and NO ONE EVER CORRECTS HIM IN REAL TIME. Like Powell just did.”
“Powell’s doing more here to point out Trump’s lies in real time than nearly every reporter who interviews Trump,” observed author Hemant Mehta, who writes Friendly Atheist on Substack.
“No one humiliates Donald Trump better than Donald Trump,” wrote MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell.
Watch the video below or at this link.
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