The Fed is a separate agency from the U.S. Treasury, but both are responsible for keeping the economy stable. Here's the difference between the two bodies.

The Trump Justice Department has subpoenaed the Federal Reserve for information related to its multibillion-dollar renovation of the Fed's headquarters in Washington.The move comes on the heels of months of President Donald Trump trying to influence Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to lower interest rates.

President Donald Trump and White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said they were unaware of the Department of Justice's investigation.

The probe appears to center on Powell’s testimony to Congress last year about cost overruns in a multi-billion-dollar office renovation project. Powell, who was appointed by Trump in 2017, issued a rare video message on Sunday night rebuking the investigation as a politically motivated effort to influence the Fed's interest rate policy.

A Justice Department probe of the Federal Reserve marks the latest escalation in the Trump administration's effort to bend the independent central bank to the president's will.

After cutting interest rates three times in a row last year, the Federal Reserve indicated last month it probably won’t lower interest rates again for a while. A months-long pause, cemented by key economic data released Friday,

Powell described the move as a part of a broader effort to pressure the central bank on monetary policy.

The legality of Trump’s push to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook was already one of the biggest issues of the court’s term. A probe into Chair Jerome H. Powell has raised the stakes.