Scoop: Powell requests IG review on $2.5 billion renovation amid Trump pressure

• In recent days, Trump has installed loyalists atop the National Capital Planning Commission, which has authority over federal building design issues, and a top White House official suggested the Fed made changes to the building contrary to the law governing the NCPC.

Driving the news: Powell has asked Fed IG Michael Horowitz to review the costs of the building and any other related matters Horowitz deems appropriate, the source said.

• The IG's office has reviewed the long-planned project before, but this review is meant to be a fresh look at a time of heightened scrutiny.
• White House officials and congressional allies have accused the Fed of building an excessively luxurious campus at its longtime headquarters building, and another historic building next door.

Of note: The Federal Reserve Act grants the Fed's Board of Governors wide authority over its real estate decisions, stating that it "may maintain, enlarge, or remodel any building or buildings" it has acquired or built "and shall have sole control of such building or buildings and space therein."

• In an FAQ published on its website over the weekend, the Fed asserted that the board "generally is not subject to direction from the NCPC on its building projects," and that it did not believe the changes it made to its project would require "further review" from plans approved in 2021.