On the 12th, more than a dozen prominent former U.S. finance officials, including Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, and Janet Yellen, issued a joint statement criticizing the Trump administration for launching a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
In addition to the former Fed chairs Greenspan, Bernanke, and Yellen, the statement was also signed by former U.S. Treasury Secretaries and former Chairs of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
The statement noted that the independence of the Federal Reserve is vital to the performance of the U.S. economy, and that the attempt to launch a criminal investigation into Powell is an effort to undermine the Fed's independence by leveraging prosecutorial power.
The statement emphasized that the rule of law is the foundation of America's economic success, and warned that such an unprecedented move could have extremely adverse effects on inflation and the overall operation of the economy.
On the 11th, Powell issued a public statement on the Federal Reserve's website, stating that on the 9th, the U.S. Department of Justice served the Fed with a subpoena, threatening to bring criminal charges against his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in June 2025, which at that time involved the Fed's office building renovation project. Powell said that the prosecution's criminal investigation against him was an "excuse" to undermine the Fed's independence in setting interest rates.
Some media outlets believe that the criminal investigation against Powell indicates that the ongoing conflict between White House power and the independence of the Federal Reserve is not new. The series of confrontations and escalations between President Trump, Powell, and the Fed continues.