Lost in the hysterical media bleating about a new criminal investigation into Jerome Powell is any attempt to report fairly on his alleged transgressions. The singular lens through which the investigation is being reported in many openly and not-so-openly left leaning outlets is that it is Donald Trump’s revenge after Powell refused to do as instructed and lower interest rates

But the aperture needs to be widened to see the full picture: the case is about more than the Chair of the Federal Reserve not bending the knee. It is about Powell’s competency as the nation’s chief money man after presiding over the central bank’s vast and scandalous renovation project – that started at $1.9bn, now stands at $2.5bn and by the project’s expected completion in the fall of 2027 could be more than $4bn, according to Trump.

While the specifics of the criminal investigation have not yet been made public, we do know that the DoJ believes that Powell lied to Congress about the true scope and cost of the renovations. Members of the Senate Banking Committee were certainly unhappy with Powell’s evidence to them last June.

“There’s no VIP dining room, there’s no new marble. There are no special elevators,” Powell told the committee, scotching reports of excess spending. “There are no new water features, there’s no beehives, and there’s no roof terrace gardens.”

However an excerpt from the plans filed with the National Capital Planning Commission clearly states: “The private dining rooms on Level 4 (of the Fed’s Eccles building) will be restored. The Governors’ private elevator will be extended to discharge at the dining suite level.” The documents outline “vegetated roof terraces” that will welcome “urban wildlife and pollinators” as well as new marble and water features.

Afterwards, Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis said Powell made “a number of factually inaccurate statements to the Committee regarding the Fed’s plush private dining room and elevator, skylights, water features, and roof terrace. This is typical of the mismanagement and ‘don’t bother me’ attitude that Chair Powell has always shown.”

If the country’s most senior lawmakers couldn’t get a straight answer out of him, it must surely fall to a federal agency with a little more bite to get to the truth. Powell can’t simply stonewall the FBI. On the basis of what is in the public realm, he clearly has questions to answer if not yet a full case. And if his conscience is as clear as his language was in a video he released in which he said the DoJ investigation was about “whether monetary policy will be directed by political pressure,” then perhaps he can explain clearly to the American public precisely what he has lavished all that cash on?

That the Trump administration is prosecuting an agenda is obvious. Trump acolytes across government are straining at the leash to remove Powell – his term as Chairman ends in May and he will remain as governor until 2028. But newspapers and TV news networks that are reporting this investigation is purely about revenge might look rather silly if it turns out that Powell does indeed have a case to answer.

And it might also blow up in the faces of those slavish MAGA warriors who believe they have all the evidence they need to effectively hang, draw and quarter Powell. The Trump admin came for James Comey and Letitia James and failed to turn a whiff of corruption into a prosecutable case. And the Supreme Court has yet to decide if Trump can fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook for alleged mortgage fraud. The case would in effect supersede this one against Powell. Arguments will be heard on January 21.

Two wrongs, we are told, do not make a right, but this kind of lawfare is exactly what Trump himself had to put up with in his first term and after losing the 2020 election. He has learned from the best of the worst.

What will happen to Powell is unclear. What should happen is that the Fed becomes more open and accountable. And those in charge of the nation’s money start taking better care of it. What else could have been done with $4bn? How many hospitals built? How many more cops on the streets?

“The bottom line is that this is the most expensive project in DC history,” Trump’s pick to replace Powell, Kevin Hassett, director of the administration’s National Economic Council, said. The complex challenge for Hassett, if he is confirmed, is to reform the system and boost confidence in the federal government – all while not looking like a Trump stooge.

Is it the case that Powell is a great economic brain but a terrible administrator? Probably. While he must carry the can if there is one to be carried, for the budget to run so out of control there is surely a chronic lack of competency across the highest levels of the Fed.

What Powell must take responsibility for is his lack of openness. The Federal Reserve is not a kingdom. He may very well turn out to be right to battle Trump on interest rates, yet he is certainly wrong not to offer a very least an apology for wasting billions of dollars of taxpayers money. And such high-handedness does rather undercut his central claim of being accountable to the American public, not Donald Trump.