President Donald Trump on Friday slammed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, calling him “truly one of my worst appointments,” as the U.S. central bank chief continues to defy criticism about his role amid relentless pressure from the White House.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, the president, who has been furious at Powell over the Fed’s resistance to cut interest rates, blasted his predecessor Joe Biden for giving him another four-year term after Trump first nominated him in the role in 2017.

“He is truly one of my worst appointments,” Trump wrote. “Sleepy Joe saw how bad he was and reappointed him anyway.”

Powell, who has yet to respond to Tump’s latest attack, on Thursday sent a letter to Russell Vought, rejecting the Office of Management and Budget director’s claims that he has “grossly mismanaged the Fed,” noting there have been “no VIP dining rooms constructed as part of the project” and no plans to build any VIP elevators.

The Fed chair explained that the project “is large in scope because it involves the renovation of two historic buildings on the National Mall and that were first constructed in the 1930s.”

“While periodic work has been done to keep these buildings occupiable, neither building has seen a comprehensive renovation since they were first constructed,” he added. “Both buildings were in need of significant structural repairs and other updates to make the buildings safe, healthy, and effective places to work.”

The $2.5 billion project has drawn fresh scrutiny and has been used by Trump and his allies to sharpen their attacks on Powell. The president has hammered the Fed chair over the Fed’s reluctance to cede to his demand for lower interest rates, while his economic adviser Kevin Hassett conceded the renovation work could be used as “a predicate” to try to remove Powell from the job ahead of the end of his term in May 2026.

“I think that whether the president decides to push down that road or not is going to depend a lot on the answers that we get to the questions that Russ Vought sent to the Fed,” Hassett told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.

Powell’s letter, which included many of the details the Fed had already posted on a dedicated section of its website about the project, though, seems unlikely to make Vought relent.

Vought told reporters Thursday that while Trump is “unlikely” to remove Powell, he still has “substantial concerns” about both interest rates and the renovation’s cost overruns, adding that an on-site inspection of the project is warranted.

“We want to go over there,” he said. “We want to see what’s going on.”

He also appeared to dismiss a request by Powell to the Fed’s watchdog, Michael Horowitz, to “take a fresh look at the project.”

“Obviously, the cost overrun is very concerning and the extent to which we don’t believe that just having the inspector general do a review is something that is going to be enough,” Vought added. “So we want to have, sit down with those that are in charge of the project and get a brief from them and see where we’re at.”

Earlier this week, Trump reportedly asked some House Republicans if they thought he should fire Powell, while showing them a draft letter he could send the Fed chair ordering his removal; reports of the move briefly rattled the markets.

Trump has since told reporters he has no plans to fire Powell imminently “unless he has to leave for fraud.”