Pirro keeps pressure on Fed’s Powell despite dropping probe

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro may have suspended her criminal investigation into outgoing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, but she and her office remain at the center of the power struggle over the influential central bank. How she handles an imminent appeal will help determine the extent of President Donald Trump’s influence on the Fed.

Pirro has until Monday to appeal District of Columbia Chief Judge James Boasberg’s rulings quashing her subpoenas to the Fed.

What her office says in the filing will be critical in determining how long Powell stays on the Fed after his chairmanship ends, and therefore when Trump is able to appoint a new Fed governor to replace him. It could also determine whether the effective ceasefire between Trump and the Fed settles in, or if hostilities recommence, potentially unsettling markets.

The Department of Justice didn’t respond to requests for comment. The Fed declined to comment.

Pirro said on April 24 she would close the investigation while Fed Inspector General Michael Horowitz looked into the renovation costs. But she left herself plenty of room to reopen it. 

“I will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so,” Pirro said in an X post. 

Trump said shortly after that he thought the investigation was still going. “It’s not dropped,” Trump told reporters on April 25. 

The Justice Department by tradition operates independently of the president, but in Trump’s second term it has pursued cases against his perceived political opponents. Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted this week for a second time after a judge in November dismissed a prior charge.

Pirro wants an appeals court to overturn Boasberg’s decision blocking the subpoenas. That is a problem for Powell because it suggests Pirro is trying to stop the probe just long enough to get Powell out of the way while keeping the threat alive.

Powell, who plans to stay on the Fed as a member to keep a watchful eye, and his legal team will be watching the appeal carefully. He said he had received assurances from Pirro’s office that “if they do appeal the recent court decision, they would not seek as part of that appeal to restart the investigation or send new subpoenas.” 

Pirro has said the appeal is about underlying principles. Boasberg is undercutting her ability to investigate broadly, not just in this case, Pirro argues. 

“When a federal judge believes that he can stand in front of the door of the grand jury and prevent a prosecutor from going in, when the United States Supreme Court has said the prosecutor can go in on suspicions or rumor, we’ve got to appeal that decision,” Pirro told Fox News Thursday.

But Pirro hasn’t dropped her claims that there is something fishy in the Fed’s renovations. “You’ve got billions of dollars in cost overruns on a very small project,” she said. 

Her office has been looking into that question for six months and hasn’t presented any evidence of wrongdoing. 

Sean P. Murphy, a former assistant U.S. attorney, said Pirro appears to be overstating the judge’s challenge to her ability to investigate. 

“Judge Boasberg isn’t saying you can’t ever bring a subpoena again,” Murphy said. “He’s saying you have to have facts.”

While Pirro says she is trying to affirm her ability to issue subpoenas, the appeal could have the opposite effect, Murphy said. A higher court could agree with Boasberg and set sharper limits around what constitutes politically motivated investigations. 

Because of that type of risk, DOJ procedures require that appeals be signed off by the solicitor general, a top-ranking official who reports directly to the attorney general. 

It isn’t clear how Pirro and senior DOJ officials have coordinated on the Powell investigation. The DOJ hasn’t commented on the assurances Powell said he received from Pirro’s office about the state of the investigation.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was asked Sunday if he would commit to not reopening the investigation. He didn’t answer the question directly but referred instead to Horowitz, the Fed’s inspector general. “If he uncovers evidence of criminal conduct, there is no doubt that we will investigate,” Blanche said.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., dropped his holdup of Fed chair nominee Kevin Warsh because of his understanding that Pirro’s probe was ending. He and Powell say they believe the investigation will be reopened only if the Horowitz reveals some new wrongdoing. But Blanche left open the possibility that it could reopen the investigation even if what the IG finds is less than criminal.

“We’ll go from there, depending on what he finds,” Blanche said Sunday.