Watch the 2-minute address Jerome Powell gave after the Fed received grand jury subpoenas

"On Friday, the Department of Justice served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas, threatening a criminal indictment related to my testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last June. That testimony concerned in part a multi-year project to renovate historic Federal Reserve office buildings. I have deep respect for the rule of law and for accountability in our democracy. No one, certainly not the chair of the Federal Reserve, is above the law,"

"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 rule. 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."

The Department of Justice served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas threatening criminal indictment tied to Chair Jerome Powell's June testimony about a multi-year renovation of historic Federal Reserve office buildings. Powell affirmed respect for the rule of law while characterizing the subpoenas as unprecedented and as part of broader pressure from the Trump administration to push the Fed to lower interest rates. Powell stated the Fed had kept Congress informed through testimony and public disclosures and called the stated reasons pretexts. Powell warned that the threat of criminal charges could undermine the Fed's ability to set interest rates based on economic evidence rather than presidential preferences.

Read at Business Insider