The Jerome Powell Clusterfuck Is a Clusterfuck of Pam Bondi's Own Making - emptywheel

"This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings. It is not about Congress's oversight role; the Fed through testimony and other public disclosures made every effort to keep Congress informed about the renovation project. Those are pretexts. The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President."

"Not all the markets were impervious to Powell's harassment by DOJ goons. The dollar, which is down 8.3 percent over the past year-that is, more or less since Trump took office-dropped steeply Monday morning before rising a bit in the afternoon. The yield on 30-year Treasury bonds, which has been rising since October, spiked Monday morning. That's a sign that fewer people wish to buy them."

Jerome Powell posted a video saying he received subpoenas he claimed were part of an effort to attack the Fed's independence. He said the subpoenas were not about his testimony or building renovations and called those matters pretexts. He linked the threat of criminal charges to the Fed setting interest rates based on economic assessment rather than following presidential preferences. He framed the issue as whether the Fed will set rates by evidence and conditions or be driven by political pressure. The subpoenas and ensuing political maneuvering triggered market moves: gold hit a record, the dollar plunged, and long-term Treasury yields spiked then eased.

Read at emptywheel