{"id":17629,"date":"2026-01-13T02:01:44","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T02:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/tim-scott-keeps-quiet-as-fed-independence-comes-under-threat\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T02:01:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T02:01:44","slug":"tim-scott-keeps-quiet-as-fed-independence-comes-under-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/tim-scott-keeps-quiet-as-fed-independence-comes-under-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"Tim Scott keeps quiet as Fed independence comes under threat"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As Washington erupted over the Justice Department\u2019s subpoena<\/a> of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, a Republican lawmaker at the center of the dispute is keeping silent.<\/p>\n

That would be Sen. Tim Scott<\/a> of South Carolina, who presided over a June hearing of the Senate Banking Committee where he and other Republicans quizzed Powell about the Fed\u2019s pending renovation projects. Powell\u2019s answers from the meeting are now the subject of a perjury investigation, the Fed chair revealed Sunday \u2014 the apparent culmination of months of attacks from the president.<\/p>\n

Many lawmakers of both parties quickly spoke out in protest<\/a> of the probe and in favor of Fed independence \u2014 including several Republican members of Scott\u2019s own committee \u2014 but Scott himself has so far remained mum as he tries to advance major cryptocurrency legislation this week. In addition to serving as Banking chair \u2014 where he leads oversight of the Federal Reserve \u2014 Scott also chairs the Senate GOP campaign arm, which requires him to work closely with Trump and his orbit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI already said no,\u201d he told reporters who repeatedly pressed him for comment as he entered the Capitol Monday.<\/p>\n

Scott\u2019s silence is not unusual \u2014 he does not respond to questions in the Capital hallways. Still, it was conspicuous as Republican after Republican spoke out against the apparent targeting of the Fed chairman \u2014 starting almost immediately Sunday night when Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina not only objected to the move but said he would use his vote on the Banking Committee to block any future Fed nominee until the investigation is resolved.<\/p>\n

Also speaking out Monday was Scott\u2019s House counterpart, Financial Services Chair French Hill, who called Powell a \u201cman of integrity\u201d and said the investigation threatened \u201csound monetary policy decisions.\u201d Senate Majority Leader John Thune, meanwhile, called for the probe to be \u201cresolved quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

“I want to see [the Fed] operate in an independent way free of politics,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Among the questions left unaddressed by Scott is whether he shares his GOP colleagues’ concerns about Fed independence or feels misled by the June testimony, where Powell sought to rebut allegations that Fed officials had let the costs of an ambitious headquarters renovation spiral out of control.<\/p>\n

Pressed by Scott on accusations that the rehab project was needlessly lavish \u2014 many of them amplified by Trump and his allies, such as reports of a private elevator and garden terrace \u2014 Powell responded that many of the claims were \u201cflatly misleading\u201d and had long since been dropped from the plans.<\/p>\n

Scott has generally avoided weighing in on questions about the Fed\u2019s independence as Trump has taken aim at the central bank and its longtime chair. He appeared with Trump last year when the president went to tour the renovation project at the Fed\u2019s Constitution Avenue headquarters. He unsuccessfully ran for president against Trump for the 2024 nomination, but never broke with him personally, was on Trump\u2019s VP shortlist and has won praise from the president after he took office a second time.<\/p>\n

Neither the Justice Department nor the Federal Reserve have detailed what information investigators are seeking, but a prior Justice Department perjury referral<\/a> brought by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) cited contradictions between Powell\u2019s statements and plans the Fed submitted to a federal review agency. Luna\u2019s letter references answers Powell gave to Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) during the Banking hearing last year after Scott first aired concerns about the renovation.<\/p>\n

News of the probe caught some White House aides, GOP lawmakers and Wall Street players off guard \u2014 especially after Powell himself recorded a videotaped statement calling it part of a Trump administration intimidation campaign.<\/p>\n

That includes members of Scott\u2019s committee. Republicans on the panel met privately Monday evening to discuss the cryptocurrency bill he wants to push through the panel this week \u2014 a measure that is backed by the Trump administration and many of the president\u2019s allies in the crypto industry.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, Scott did not address how he or how the panel would approach the Powell investigation, according to one attendee, who said the South Carolina Republican has his hands full trying to get an agreement on the cryptocurrency bill.<\/p>\n

A bigger headache could be coming down the pike: Scott could find it difficult to move a successor through his committee later this year when Powell\u2019s term as Fed chair expires \u2014 with even Thune acknowledging moving a nominee could be a challenge.<\/p>\n

Tillis said Sunday night he would not advance a Fed nominee, including filling the upcoming chair vacancy, \u201cuntil this legal matter is fully resolved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tillis\u2019 opposition alone is enough to block the panel from being able to advance a Trump nominee to the full Senate on party lines given its 13-11 member breakdown.<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s far from alone among Banking Committee Republicans who have raised alarm bells over the investigation. While Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) called Powell a \u201cbad\u201d Fed chair, he added, \u201cI do not believe, however, that he is a criminal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a Banking Committee member, said if administration officials thought Powell had committed perjury, then they needed to back up the accusations. He added, \u201cI would be stunned if he had done anything wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need this like we need a hole to the head,\u201d Kennedy said, warning of a possible spike in interest rates as markets lose faith in Fed independence.<\/p>\n

Powell also reached out to at least two Republicans who do not serve on the Banking Committee, with Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska describing calls from the Fed chair to reporters. Thune said in a brief interview that Powell had not called him, but that he\u2019s spoken to other GOP senators who had contact.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe strongly in the independence of the Federal Reserve, and I know Jay Powell to be a person of integrity,\u201d Collins told reporters Monday, cautioning that she had not yet reviewed his comments at the hearing.<\/p>\n

But she added that \u201cone can’t help but wonder if it has more to do with the chairman’s resistance to pressure from the White House when it comes to interest rates than it does his testimony at the hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennifer Scholtes and Jasper Goodman contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Washington erupted over the Justice Department\u2019s subpoena of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, a Republican lawmaker at the center of the dispute is keeping silent. That would be Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who presided over a June hearing of the Senate Banking Committee where he and other Republicans quizzed Powell about the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17629\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}