Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee issued a stark warning on Thursday, asserting that recent political and legal attacks on the Federal Reserve and Chair Jerome Powell could undermine the central bank's independence and reignite inflation.

"Anything that’s infringing or attacking the independence of the central bank is a mess," Goolsbee stated in a CNBC interview. "You’re going to get inflation come roaring back if you try to take away the independence of the central bank."

His comments follow Powell's confirmation that he has been subpoenaed by the Justice Department regarding a multi-billion-dollar renovation project at the Fed's headquarters, a matter that has drawn White House criticism over cost overruns. While Goolsbee did not address the legal specifics, he endorsed Powell's recent concern that such investigations could serve as a pretext for political interference in monetary policy.

"I agree with his argument that if you’re investigating as a pretext because you disagree with the rate decisions, that’s a mess. We should not be in that place," Goolsbee said.

The warning comes amid sustained criticism from President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly called for deeper interest rate cuts and derided Powell as "Too Late," despite three rate reductions since September 2025. Goolsbee emphasized that central bank independence is a cornerstone of economic stability, contrasting the U.S. with countries that have pursued criminal investigations against their monetary authorities.

"I know that there have been countries that had criminal investigations of their central banks, but those countries are Zimbabwe and Russia and Turkey and a bunch of places that you would not characterize as advanced economies," he noted.

A former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama, Goolsbee stressed that Fed officials must remain apolitical. "Once you’ve become a sworn member of the Federal Reserve, you’re out of the elections business," he said.

Goolsbee has previously praised Powell as a "first-ballot Hall of Famer" for successfully lowering inflation without triggering a recession. His latest remarks underscore growing concern within the Fed that political pressure could jeopardize its hard-won progress on price stability.