A top Trump administration official accused Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell of leading an "ostentatious" office renovation project that may be "violating the law" on Thursday, a new broadside against the central bank chief as President Trump tangles with him over interest rates.

Powell has said politics don't play a part in Fed rate decisions. He and his colleagues have held the key overnight borrowing rate in place since December, though markets largely expect a cut is on the way not at the Fed's July meeting, but in September.