Judge Quashes Subpoenas in Justice Department Probe of Fed Chair Powell

A federal judge has quashed two grand jury subpoenas sent to the Federal Reserve as part of a Justice Department criminal investigation of Chairman Jerome Powell, writing that they were a pretext to pressure him to cut interest rates or step down, according to CBS News and NPR. Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dated the opinion March 11, and it was unsealed Friday.

“There is abundant evidence that the subpoenas’ dominant (if not sole) purpose is to harass and pressure Powell either to yield to the President or to resign and make way for a Fed Chair who will,” Boasberg wrote. “On the other side of the scale, the Government has offered no evidence whatsoever that Powell committed any crime other than displeasing the President.” He concluded that the asserted justifications were “mere pretexts,” CBS News reported.

Powell disclosed in January that the Fed had received the subpoenas from the office of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, CBS News reported. He said they threatened an indictment tied to his June 2025 testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, and that the probe centered on his comments about a years-long renovation of the Fed’s office buildings. NPR said the subpoenas ostensibly sought information about cost overruns on the project, which Powell called a pretext at the time. No criminal charges have resulted, CBS News noted.

Boasberg drew heavily on President Donald Trump’s own statements. He cited a post in which Trump wrote that Powell is “TOO LATE, and actually, TOO ANGRY, TOO STUPID, & TOO POLITICAL” to be Fed chair, and noted it was “one of at least 100 statements that the President or his deputies have made attacking the Chair of the Federal Reserve and pressuring him to lower interest rates,” CBS News reported. When the pressure failed, the judge wrote, Trump turned to calling for Powell’s ouster.

Pirro rejected the ruling. At a news conference she said the Justice Department will appeal, called Boasberg an “activist judge” and said his decision was “untethered to the law,” CBS News and NPR reported. She argued that it “neutered the grand jury’s ability to investigate crime” and left Powell “bathed in immunity,” meaning her office cannot investigate the Fed, which she called wrong and without legal authority.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a member of the Banking Committee, welcomed the decision. It “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,” he wrote on X, according to CBS News and NPR. Tillis added that an appeal would only delay the confirmation of Kevin Warsh, Trump’s choice to succeed Powell, whose term as chairman ends in May. CBS News and NPR reported that Tillis has said he will not support confirmation of any Trump Fed nominee until the Justice Department closes its Powell investigation.

NPR described the dispute as a test of the Fed’s ability to set monetary policy without political interference from the White House. The administration has criticized Powell for not cutting rates faster, NPR reported.