Stocks fell in overnight trading Sunday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell confirmed the Trump administration had opened a criminal investigation into the central bank.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 200 points shortly after 8:30 p.m. EST, falling 0.4 percent. S&P 500 futures were down 0.5 percent and Nasdaq futures were down 0.7 percent.

The slide came after Powell announced in a stunning statement that he and the Fed were under investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ), which had issued subpoenas to bank officials Friday night and had threatened a criminal indictment.

Powell said the investigation focused on the Fed`s renovations to several buildings at its Washington, D.C., headquarters, and his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee in June about the matter.

The Fed chair, however, dismissed those concerns as "pretexts" to pressure the bank over its interest rate policy.

"The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President," Powell said.

"This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions-or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation."

The criminal probe is a historic escalation of Trump`s one-sided feud with Powell, a Republican whom the president appointed to lead the Fed in 2017.

Trump`s fury with Powell began in 2018, when the Fed refused to yield to his pressure to slash interest rates to give the U.S. more leverage in trade negotiations with China and other nations.

While Trump eased up on Powell after the Fed cut rates and flooded financial markets with liquidity during the 2020 recession, the president spent much of his 2024 campaign ripping the Fed for cutting interest rates under former President Biden.