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Judge Boasberg Blocks DOJ Subpoenas Targeting Fed Chair Jerome Powell

Judge Boasberg Blocks DOJ Subpoenas Targeting Fed Chair Jerome Powell
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A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Friday rejected the Justice Department’s attempt to reinstate grand jury subpoenas targeting Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, leaving in place an unusually sharp ruling that halted a criminal probe into the central bank’s $2.5 billion headquarters renovation project axios +1. The decision dealt a fresh blow to President Donald Trump’s effort to investigate Powell and came as prosecutors acknowledged they had no concrete evidence of fraud or bribery by the Fed chief msn.

Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg first quashed the subpoenas on March 13, finding “abundant evidence” they were designed to pressure Powell amid Trump’s public attacks over interest rates and the renovation costs bloomberg. The Justice Department, led in this matter by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, asked him to reconsider, arguing the court had moved prematurely to block basic investigative steps axios +1. In his new opinion, Boasberg refused to budge, saying the government “does not come close” to establishing a good-faith basis for criminal suspicion msn.

Why the Judge Saw the Probe as Political

Boasberg’s orders focused on the gap between the sweeping subpoenas and the scant evidence presented. Prosecutors had sought extensive internal records from the Fed and Powell over alleged fraud tied to renovations at the central bank’s Washington headquarters, a multiyear project whose cost ballooned to about $2.5 billion axios +1. Yet in a sealed March 3 hearing later described in court filings, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Massucco admitted he could not point to any specific act of fraud or kickback involving Powell or other Fed officials msn. Boasberg cited that concession, along with Trump’s repeated public denunciations of Powell and pressure on the Fed over interest rates, as “abundant evidence” that the subpoenas were deployed less to probe crime than to “harass and pressure Powell” into political compliance bloomberg +1.

Fallout for the Fed, the White House and the Justice Department

The ruling effectively freezes the Powell investigation unless a higher court revives the subpoenas, and Pirro has already vowed to appeal to the D.C. Circuit, a process that could stretch for months msn +1. For the Fed, the decision removed an immediate legal threat to its chair as it manages high interest rates and a slowing economy, and it reinforced long-standing norms that shield monetary policymakers from direct political retaliation axios +1. For the Trump administration, Boasberg’s language added to a pattern of judicial setbacks for Justice Department efforts targeting perceived rivals, with one prosecutor’s admission of “essentially zero evidence” undercutting Trump’s claims of “criminality” at the central bank msn +1. Lawmakers from both parties and several former Fed officials had already condemned the investigation as a dangerous encroachment on central bank independence msn.

The Bigger Picture

The standoff over the Powell subpoenas highlighted how courtroom scrutiny can check aggressive, politically charged investigations even at their earliest stages. With the Justice Department now weighing an appeal and Trump pushing ahead with his bid to replace Powell, the case has become a test not only of prosecutorial discretion, but of how far a White House can go in using federal law enforcement to pressure an institution meant to stand outside partisan politics msn +1.