With action against Powell and the Fed, Trump’s list of target opponents grows longer

ATLANTA (AP) — Donald Trump promised in his second inaugural address to enforce the law fairly, in contrast to how he said he was treated by federal authorities.

“The evil, violent, and unfair weaponization of the Department of Justice and our government will end,” he announced on January 20, 2025.

Read more: The Justice Department’s investigation into Powell sparked backlash and support for the Fed’s independence

Since then, the Trump administration has pursued numerous elected and appointed government officials who either directly opposed the Republican president or did not fulfill his wishes.

The latest is Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who has defended the central bank’s independence against pressure from Trump to cut interest rates more sharply. Trump told NBC News over the weekend that he knew nothing about the Justice Department’s investigation into the Federal Reserve’s ongoing construction project in Washington.

But influential White House chief of staff Susie Wiles also confirmed that Trump sees his return to the White House as a revenge tour.

“There may be an element of that from time to time,” she told Vanity Fair. “Who’s to blame? Not me.”

Here’s a look at how Trump’s government is going after his opponents, real and perceived.

Powell and the Federal Reserve are under investigation

Powell said in an unusual video statement on Sunday that the Justice Department had subpoenaed the central bank and threatened to file criminal charges after his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee this summer. In this appearance, Powell responded to Trump’s criticism of the Fed’s $2.5 billion office renovation project in Washington, criticism that Trump raised as he also expressed frustration that Powell and his fellow conservatives had not cut interest rates sharply enough to suit Trump’s taste.

Read more: Why does the Fed’s independence from the White House matter?

Powell, who was appointed chairman by Trump in 2017, clearly asserted that the action taken by the Justice Department is a “pretext” to weaken the Fed’s historic independence in setting monetary policy without political influence from the president. The chairman had previously ignored Trump’s pressure and personal insults, other than emphasizing the central bank’s historic independent status.

The investigation and Powell’s statement represent a major escalation in Trump’s battle with the Fed and his ongoing pressure on the US system of checks and balances.

It targeted the personal finances of Fed member Lisa Cook

Before the latest subpoena, Trump tried to fire another Fed member, Lisa Cook, over mortgage fraud allegations pushed by the president’s director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Bill Bolte. It was the first time in 112 years that a president sought to remove a Fed governor.

Cook, appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022 and the first Black woman to serve on the seven-member board, filed a lawsuit to keep her job. The Supreme Court ruled last fall that Cook could remain on the board as her case progressed. The justices are expected to hear arguments in January. The court has already heard a separate case involving Trump’s power to fire officials at independent agencies.

James Comey is indicted – then the case is put on hold

So far, former FBI Director James Comey has escaped a federal indictment accusing him of lying to Congress.

Comey, who was fired by Trump during his first administration, was the first former senior government official to face trial after being implicated in one of the president’s chief grievances, the long-gone investigation into Russian election interference.

The September indictment came days after Trump appeared to encourage Attorney General Pam Bondi to punish Comey. “Justice must be served now!!!” he said in a social media post in which he named Bundy and referred to his impeachment and prosecution.

A federal judge in Virginia dismissed the criminal case against Comey in November, concluding that Attorney General Lindsey Halligan, who brought the charges at Trump’s request, was illegally appointed by the Justice Department. This, of course, means that Comey has not been acquitted of the charges that could be brought against him again.

Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, also survived

New York Attorney General Letitia James was a longtime target of Trump after she won a massive civil fraud case against him in 2024. A higher court later overturned the fine, but both sides appealed — and Trump’s Justice Department has been pursuing James ever since.

She was indicted on federal mortgage fraud charges two weeks after Comey’s indictment last year. Her case was dismissed by the same Virginia-based judge for the same reason that bailed out Comey: the prosecutor who brought the charges turned out to be illegally appointed.

The Trump administration continued to pursue James, but was rebuked twice in December by grand juries that declined to issue indictments after hearing evidence from federal prosecutors.

More recently, another federal judge, this time in James’ home state, barred another prosecutor from overseeing investigations into James. The judge found that John Sarcone was not lawfully serving as an acting US attorney in the Northern District of New York.

Former CIA Director John Brennan was told he was under investigation

John Brennan’s lawyers say they have been informed that the former CIA director is the target of a Florida grand jury investigation.

This investigation is linked to the US government’s assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, an investigation that fueled Trump’s anger at Comey.

Brennan’s lawyers said in a letter last month that they wanted to block the Justice Department from directing the investigation of him and other former government officials to U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon. She is the Florida state attorney appointed by Trump and later dismissed a secret documents case against him.

Jack Smith, who led the investigation into Trump, remains under investigation

An ostensibly independent federal agency that investigates the partisan political activity of federal employees, opened an investigation last summer into Jack Smith, a former federal prosecutor who led several Trump investigations, including related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol by Trump supporters.

Trump’s Justice Department Office of Special Counsel confirmed in August that it was investigating Smith over allegations he engaged in political activity through its investigations of Trump. Smith was appointed special prosecutor in November 2022 by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland.

In his testimony before Congress in December, Smith did not hold back, saying his team had “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that the president criminally conspired to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Biden.

“I made my investigative decisions without regard to President Trump’s political affiliation, activities, beliefs, or candidacy for the 2024 presidential election,” Smith said. “We took action based on what the facts and the law required — the same lesson I learned early in my career as a prosecutor.”

Adam Schiff’s mortgage is under scrutiny

California Sen. Adam Schiff has long been among Trump’s loudest critics on Capitol Hill, starting when he was a member of the House of Representatives during Trump’s first presidency. He is now another official whose mortgages and personal finances are under scrutiny. Schiff was being investigated by Maryland prosecutors as of late last year.

Now the investigation itself has become the subject of an investigation. Federal authorities in November began inquiring about the roles of Ed Martin, a Justice Department official, and Bolt, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency whose name has appeared in several high-profile real estate fraud cases brought by the Trump administration.

Schiff, who pushed for Trump’s impeachment during his first term, has consistently said that the investigation against him is political revenge.

Associated Press reporter Eric Tucker contributed from Washington.