Trump's Prosecution of Fed Chair Threatens Our Democracy and Our Economy
Phone scripts, talking points, email tools to demand Congress take action
Contact all members of Congress:
By phone: (202) 224-3121
By email: Congress.gov
By US mail: Representatives / Senators
By Resistbot: Resist.bot
The first year of Trump’s second term has been chock full of economic sabotage and retaliatory prosecution against those Trump deems enemies or who dare to not toe the line. Maybe it was inevitable he’d try both at the same time.
Yesterday evening, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell told us the Department of Justice served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened him with a criminal indictment over his testimony to Congress about renovations at Fed headquarters. As Powell made plain in this remarkable statement, it’s nonsense, an obvious pretext for Trump to punish him for refusing to set interest rates as low as the White House would prefer or blackmail him into doing so now.
Trump had already been warning about firing Powell, who he nominated for the job, in what would have already been a massive and illegal power grab. This is an unprecedented escalation, and one that could have severe consequences.
It should go without saying that disagreeing with a president on policy matters is not a crime in a democracy, and if a public official doing so risks investigation and imprisonment we have made the president’s every whim law. This is a giant step towards making this country a functional dictatorship. And for those who don’t give a damn about freedom or the rule of law, undermining the independence of the Federal Reserve Board could also crater our economy in both the short and long term. The markets openly panicked when Trump was just suggesting termination, and their reaction to the Fed being under the White House’s thumb for good is likely to be far worse.
Our leaders must act, and they must act now. At the very minimum, everyone who claims to represent us should be demanding the probe be dropped and an investigation into it by both the Department of Justice’s Inspector General and Congress. We need public hearings where Attorney General Pam Bondi and everyone who below her testify under oath about how this case came about and whether Trump is lying about his involvement. More broadly, our elected officials must be using every available lever to protect our economy and stop this weaponization of the justice system to pressure and punish those who dare disagree with the White House – including holding up Fed confirmations, the power of appropriations and impeachment. We can find call scripts we can use to push our members of Congress on this below, or send this email by texting SIGN PQTOHR to 50409.
Last updated 1/12/26.
PHONE SCRIPTS
You can find your rep’s contact info here. Please adjust, add, and reword as you would see fit - you will be most effective speaking in your own words!
Hi, my name is _________, and I’m a constituent from (city, zip). (If voicemail, leave street address).
The political prosecution of the Federal Reserve Chair has to be where Congress draws the line.
Jerome Powell is right. This case is a pretext to blackmail him into serving Trump’s every whim. It’s the stuff of tinpot dictatorships, not a rich and stable democracy. And it’s going to create a financial crisis that will screw up the economy and my family’s future.
________ needs to:
Publicly demand the probe into Powell be dropped
Insist on an investigation by the Justice Department’s inspector general and Congress, including public hearings where the Attorney General, the U.S. Attorney for D.C. and anyone else working on this testify under oath on the President’s involvement in the case
Use every available lever to protect our economy and stop this weaponization of the justice system against anyone who disagrees with the president, including:
Refusing to support new nominees to the Fed until this is dropped
The appropriations process
Impeachment
Thank you for your time and consideration.
EMAIL LANGUAGE
We can send this message directly to our members of Congress by texting SIGN PQTOHR to 50409, or use it as a starting point for the standard congressional email system.
The political prosecution of the Federal Reserve Chair has to be where Congress draws the line.
Jerome Powell is right. This case is a pretext to blackmail him into serving Trump’s every desire. It’s the stuff of tinpot dictatorships, not a rich and stable democracy. And it’s going to create a financial crisis that will screw up my family’s future.
It should go without saying that disagreeing with a president on policy matters is not a crime in a democracy, and if a public official doing so risks investigation and imprisonment we have made the president’s every whim law. This is a giant step towards making this country a functional dictatorship.
For those who don’t give a damn about freedom or the rule of law, undermining the independence of the Federal Reserve Board could also crater our economy in both the short and long term. The markets openly panicked when Trump was just threatening to fire Powell, and their reaction to the Fed being under the White House’s thumb for good is likely to be far worse.
As your constituent, I am calling on you to publicly demand the probe into Powell be dropped and insist on an investigation of how this case was handled by the Justice Department’s inspector general and Congress itself. The Attorney General, the U.S. Attorney for D.C. and anyone else working on this must testify publicly and under oath on the President’s involvement.
Further, you must use every available lever to protect our economy and stop this weaponization of our justice system against anyone who disagrees with the White House. This should include refusing to support any new nominees to the Federal Reserve until this matter is resolved, along with utilizing the power of the appropriations process and impeachment.
Our public officials should be able to follow the evidence and their judgment where they lead without fearing it will put them in prison. Inaction in the face of this challenge is unacceptable.