A federal judge in Washington has put a major roadblock into a criminal investigation of Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, over the central bank’s renovation of its Washington headquarters, quashing subpoenas issued to the Fed by federal prosecutors.
In a blistering 27-page decision unsealed on Friday, the judge, James E. Boasberg, derided the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, led by the Trump loyalist Jeanine Pirro, for pursuing a case against Mr. Powell when it appeared that the only reason prosecutors had to do so was President Trump’s desire to seek vengeance against the Fed chair. Mr. Powell has long resisted calls from the White House to adjust interest rates for political reasons.
“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,” Judge 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.”
The investigation into Mr. Powell began late last year when Ms. Pirro’s office served two subpoenas on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, seeking records about recent renovations of the board’s buildings and testimony that Powell delivered to Congress that briefly discussed those renovations, Judge Boasberg wrote. The board moved in response to quash the subpoenas, he went on, arguing that they were “merely part of the game plan to pressure Powell to bend to the president’s wishes or to get rid of him.”
The investigation represents one of the most aggressive attempts by the administration to pressure the Fed into lowering borrowing costs. The criminal inquiry prompted a rare rebuke from not only Mr. Powell but lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle, who accused the administration of trying to encroach on the institution’s longstanding political independence.
In an extraordinary video message after Mr. Powell was sent the subpoenas, the Fed chair called out Mr. Trump directly, saying that “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.”
Alan Feuer covers extremism and political violence for The Times, focusing on the criminal cases involving the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and against former President Donald J. Trump.
The post Judge Quashes Justice Dept.’s Subpoenas Targeting Federal Reserve Chair appeared first on New York Times.
