WASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on the Federal Reserve to lower the federal benchmark interest rate by at least 3 percentage points, renewing his call for the U.S. central bank to lower rates to help reduce the cost to service the nation's debt.

The central bank is quietly pushing back with a new “Frequently Asked Questions” page on its website defending the central bank’s renovation.

President Donald Trump is escalating his pressure campaign to get the Federal Reserve chairman to either lower interest rates or quit his post by targeting the expensive renovation at the central bank’s headquarters.

The White House on Thursday launched a fresh attack on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, with a top Trump administration official saying Powell had "grossly mismanaged" the central bank, chastising him for running a deficit and for extensive cost overruns for building renovations.

But their presence made a lot more sense when the new commissioners spoke up — and promptly took aim at one of Trump’s political foes, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Powell has resisted Trump’s demands to lower interest rates.