by Ben Whedon
The Department of Justice on Friday ended its criminal probe into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced that she had ordered her office to close the investigation while the Federal Reserve’s Inspector General reviewed the matter.
“I have directed my office to close our investigation as the IG undertakes this inquiry. Note well, however, that I will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so,” she posted on X.
Pirro’s office had investigated the renovation of the Federal Reserve building in Washington, D.C., which has been plagued by delays and cost overruns.
“I expect a comprehensive report in short order and am confident the outcome will assist in resolving, once and for all, the questions that led this office to issue subpoenas,” she added.
Last month, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled the federal government could not subpoena Powell in its investigation into the Federal Reserve building’s renovation budget. Boasberg said the federal government could not use subpoenas to force Powell to lower interest rates.
“Did prosecutors issue those subpoenas for a proper purpose? The Court finds that they did not,” Boasberg wrote. “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.
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Ben Whedon is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
