WASHINGTON—A federal judge in Washington on Friday rejected the Justice Department’s bid to revive subpoenas issued as part of its investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, delivering another setback to a politically charged probe that critics have said threatens the central bank’s independence.
Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said prosecutors had not “come close” to showing why he should reverse his earlier order blocking the subpoenas, according several news reports.
The subpoenas, issued in January by Washington U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office, sought records tied to cost overruns on the Federal Reserve’s headquarters renovation and Powell’s 2025 testimony to Congress about the project. Boasberg had already ruled on March 13 that the subpoenas were issued for an “improper purpose,” finding they appeared aimed at pressuring Powell to either cut interest rates or step aside rather than advancing a legitimate criminal inquiry. In Friday’s ruling, the judge said prosecutors still had shown a “total lack of a good-faith basis to suspect a crime,” Reuters reported.
Powell has publicly cast the investigation as retaliation for the Fed’s refusal to bend monetary policy to White House demands. In a Jan. 11 statement posted by the Federal Reserve, Powell said the DOJ had served the Fed with grand jury subpoenas “threatening a criminal indictment” tied to his Senate Banking Committee testimony, but argued the move was really about pressure over interest rates, not congressional oversight or the building project itself.
The ruling tees up what is expected to be an appeal by Pirro’s office, a step that could further complicate President Trump’s effort to install Kevin Warsh as Powell’s successor. Reuters reported Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) has vowed to keep blocking Warsh’s nomination while the Powell investigation remains unresolved, raising the stakes in a case that has become as much about Fed independence as it is about the underlying renovation dispute.