President Donald Trump’s budget chief on Thursday said that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell “has grossly mismanaged the Fed” and suggested he had misled Congress about a pricey and “ostentatious” renovation of the central bank’s headquarters. The broadside by Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought opened up a new front in Trump’s war of words against Powell. Trump has repeatedly called on the Fed chairman to cut interest rates, without success. He reportedly has considered firing Powell and, more recently, publicly naming the chairman’s replacement months earlier than the end of Powell’s term next spring. Vought’s letter raises the question of whether Trump will seek to remove Powell for cause, at least ostensibly. But the Supreme Court in a recent decision strongly suggested that Federal Reserve board members have special protection from being fired by a president. “While continuing to run a deficit since FY23 (the first time…
