Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Obama-Appointed Judge Throws Up Roadblock For Trump DOJ Fed Chair Investigation

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testifies before the House Financial Services Committee, March 6, 2024.

A federal judge blocked subpoenas issued as part of a probe into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in a ruling unsealed Friday.

Judge James Boasberg, an Obama appointee, wrote that “a mountain of evidence suggests that the Government served these subpoenas on the Board to pressure its Chair into voting for lower interest rates or resigning.”

“On the other side of the scale, the Government has produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime; indeed, its justifications are so thin and unsubstantiated that the Court can only conclude that they are pretextual,” he wrote. “The Court therefore finds that the subpoenas were issued for an improper purpose and will quash them.”

The subpoenas sought “records about recent renovations of the Board’s buildings and testimony that Powell delivered to Congress that briefly discussed those renovations,” according to the ruling. Cost estimates for renovations on the Federal Reserve’s two buildings are around $2.5 billion.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell announced the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued the subpoenas in January, calling it “unprecedented action [that] should be seen in the broader context of the administration’s threats and ongoing pressure.”

“This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings,” Powell said. “It is not about Congress’s oversight role; the Fed through testimony and other public disclosures made every effort to keep Congress informed about the renovation project. Those are pretexts. 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.”

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro called the ruling the “anthesis of American justice” on Friday.

“Exonerating anyone without any records, without an investigation or question, is not how our criminal justice system works,” she said. “This judge has put himself at the entrance door to the grand jury, slamming that door shut, irrespective of the legal process, and thus preventing the grand jury from doing the work that it does.”

The Supreme Court has held that grand juries have broad authority to investigate “merely on suspicion that the law is being violated” or for assurance that the law is not being violated, Pirro said. She promised Boasberg’s decision would be appealed.

“This decision by Judge Boasberg runs directly afoul of our highest court’s admonition that courts and judges must not, and cannot, saddle grand juries with mini trials and preliminary showings that impede a prosecutor’s investigation and thus frustrate the public’s interest in the fair and expeditious administration of justice,” she said.

Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis wrote on X that Boasberg’s ruling “confirms just how weak and frivolous the criminal investigation of Chairman Powell is and it is nothing more than a failed attack on Fed independence.”

“We all know how this is going to end and the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office should save itself further embarrassment and move on,” he wrote. “Appealing the ruling will only delay the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed Chair.”

Trump called on Powell in a Thursday Truth Social post to drop interest rates “immediately.”