'For My Friends, Everything; For the Federal Reserve, the Law'

There is an expression from the first half of the twentieth century of disputed attribution to either Peruvian Óscar R. Benavides or Brazilian Getúlio Vargas, in which an autocrat offers "for my friends everything, for my enemies the law."

Donald J. Trump has neither Spanish nor Portuguese, but he's inclined by nature to see the world in these terms.

Tonight, Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, finds himself the target of a federal criminal probe:

The U.S. attorney’s office in the District of Columbia has opened a criminal investigation into Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, over the central bank’s renovation of its Washington headquarters and whether Mr. Powell lied to Congress about the scope of the project, according to officials briefed on the situation.

The inquiry, which includes an analysis of Mr. Powell’s public statements and an examination of spending records, was approved in November by Jeanine Pirro, a longtime ally of President Trump who was appointed to run the office last year, the officials said.

The investigation escalates Mr. Trump’s long-running feud with Mr. Powell, whom the president has continually attacked for resisting his demands to slash interest rates significantly. The president has threatened to fire the Fed chair — even though he nominated Mr. Powell for the position in 2017 — and raised the prospect of a lawsuit against him related to the $2.5 billion renovation, citing “incompetence.”

Mr. Trump told The New York Times in an interview last week that he had decided on who he wants to replace Mr. Powell as Fed chair. He is expected to soon announce his decision. Kevin A. Hassett, Mr. Trump’s top economic adviser, is a front-runner for the top job. While Mr. Powell’s term as chair ends in May, his term as a governor runs through January 2028. Mr. Powell has not disclosed whether he plans to stay on at the central bank beyond this year.

See Glenn Thrush and Colby Smith, Federal Prosecutors Are Said to Have Opened Inquiry Into Fed Chair Powell ('The investigation, which centers on renovations of the Federal Reserve’s headquarters in Washington, signals an escalation in the long-running clash between President Trump and the chair'), New York Times, January 11, 2026 (sub. req'd).

In response, Chairman Powell issued a statement on YouTube:

This is no longer astonishing; to be astonished in these times is to misunderstand these times.