Trump Justice Department fights ruling halting Fed subpoenas in Powell investigation

The Trump Justice Department is fighting a court ruling that stopped grand jury subpoenas sent to the Federal Reserve in the criminal investigation involving Chairman Jerome Powell.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg blocked the subpoenas in a decision that became public on Friday.

But the main deal of this [slightly embarrassing] case is for us all to see whether prosecutors can force the central bank to hand over material as part of that probe in the so-called Democratic capital of the world.

Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said the Justice Department would appeal what she called an “outrageous” ruling.

Pirro, in a Friday press conference, said the judge’s ruling wrongly let Powell be “bathed in immunity” from investigation.

As you certainly know, this fight over Powell is now tangled up with Donald Trump’s effort to install Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor, as the next chair.

Tillis blocks Warsh and leaves Trump stuck with Powell longer

This latest ruling has nonetheless been yet another mortifying setback for the Trump government and an immediate win for Chair Powell, who now only has mere weeks left in his term.

Boasberg’s decision is likely to keep Powell in the chair longer because Sen. Thom Tillis has said he will not support Kevin’s confirmation until the investigation ends, which creates a real obstacle for Republicans, the cohort that currently controls the Senate.

But the thing is, their edge on the Banking Committee is only 13 to 11. Without Tillis, the road gets messy(ier) fast. Democrats on the committee (led by Elizabeth Warren, naturally) have since made clear they are not going to help push any of Trump’s Fed picks through.

And Tillis said the ruling showed how weak the case against Powell really was. In his statement, he said, “This ruling 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 also said:-

“We all know how this is going to end, and the D.C. U.S. attorney’s office should save itself further embarrassment and move on. Appealing the ruling will only delay the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair.”

That delay hits a president who has spent years attacking Powell over interest rates. Since returning to office, Trump has kept trying to steer the Fed and test how far the law lets him go.

What he wants is not hard to see. He wants a chair who will be more open to lower borrowing costs. Powell, whom Trump first elevated to the top job during his first term, has been a repeated target because he did not cut rates the way Trump wanted.

In late January, Trump named Kevin to succeed Powell. At the time, he wrote that Kevin would “go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairman, maybe the best.”

Kevin is of course well liked by many Republicans. But the criminal probe changed the political math around his nomination almost immediately.

Fed fights back in court as Warren joins the Senate blockade

Republicans had been searching for a way to move Kevin forward despite the investigation. Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, had tried to calm things down last month, saying, “We’ll see where the investigation goes with Jeanine Pirro’s office.”

He added, “There were subpoenas issued. But that doesn’t have to mean that there are charges.”

The court filings released Friday showed the Fed making its hardest legal case yet against a sitting president. In a reply brief, outside lawyers for the central bank listed 100 public statements made by Trump and his allies attacking Powell between 2018 and this year.

The Fed said that record pointed to one conclusion: the subpoenas were meant to help Trump “seize for himself a power specifically denied to him by federal law.”

But even if the Fed keeps winning in court, that may not be enough on its own. Federal law gives the Fed control of its own budget, gives officials long staggered terms, and protects them from being removed over policy disputes.

That legal structure is meant to protect monetary policy from politics. Countries where leaders took hold of central bank policy, including Turkey and Argentina, have dealt with chronic inflation, weaker living standards, and unstable economies.

On Friday, Warren said no Fed nominations should move until the investigations into Powell and Governor Lisa Cook are dropped. Trump has also tried to fire Cook, and that separate case is now before the Supreme Court.

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