Trump officials to visit Fed amid renovation probe, Semafor reports

(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump's administration wants to visit the Federal Reserve's Washington headquarters this week to review its $2.5 billion renovation, Semafor reported on Monday, citing White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair.

Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott is in talks to attend the visit as well, the report added, citing a person familiar with the plans.

Trump has raised the renovation project as a possible reason for ousting Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, suggesting there could be fraud, without providing evidence.

The president has launched a barrage of nearly daily criticism of Powell, whose departure he is seeking because of the central bank's reluctance to deliver interest-rate cuts.

Powell had told the administration that "design plans have changed" from earlier proposals, Semafor reported Blair as saying. "We just want to know whether or not that's true" he said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment outside of regular business hours. The Federal Reserve declined to comment on the report and directed Reuters to the officials quoted by Semafor for a comment.

Powell last week responded to a Trump administration official's demands for information about cost overruns on the project, saying it was large in scope and involved a number of safety upgrades and hazardous materials removals.

(Reporting by Devika Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Aidan Lewis)

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