Judge Quashes DOJ Subpoenas to Fed

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A federal judge rejected as improper Justice Department subpoenas issued to the Federal Reserve Board seeking records relating to its renovations of its headquarters and Chair Jerome Powell’s comments to Congress about the project.

US District Judge James Boasberg said the government had advanced no evidence to justify the subpoenas and said they clearly reflected an “improper motive” of retaliating against Powell over policy differences. Jeanine Pirro, who leads the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, called the ruling wrong and said they would appeal the decision.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The Fed declined to comment.

“A mountain of evidence suggests that the government served these subpoenas on the Board to pressure its Chair into voting for lower interest rates or resigning,” Boasberg said. “On the other side of the scale, the government has produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime; indeed, its justifications are so thin and unsubstantiated that the court can only conclude that they are pretextual.”

DOJ issued subpoenas to the Fed in January threatening a criminal indictment, Powell said at the time. The subpoenas are related to the Fed’s ongoing $2.5 billion renovation of its headquarters in Washington and testimony Powell provided about the construction before the Senate Banking panel last year.

Powell, in an unusually forceful video response to the subpoenas, characterized the investigation as motivated by the Fed refusing to set interest rates according to the preferences of President Donald Trump.

Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor, has been nominated by Trump to replace Powell when the latter’s term as chair ends in May. North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, has vowed to block any Fed nominations as long as the DOJ investigation of Powell remains unresolved. Tillis reiterated that commitment this week.

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• Elliot Stein, Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Litigation Analyst
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