DOJ will not reopen criminal probe into Powell, Blanche says
Attorney General Todd Blanche says the Justice Department will not resume a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
Published
Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Department of Justice will not resume a criminal investigation into Powell, closing off a line of inquiry that had been reopened just days earlier.
The case traces back to a referral from U.S. Representative Anna Paulina Luna, who accused Powell of misleading Congress about the cost and scope of the Fed's renovation project, according to Investing.com via Yahoo Finance. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro opened a criminal investigation into Powell and the Fed over the same renovation issue in December, CNBC reported. The DOJ had already dropped a criminal probe into Powell once before, on April 24, a decision that cleared the way for Kevin Warsh's confirmation as Fed chair nominee, CNBC reported. A federal judge later blocked the earlier renovation probe, and Powell finished his term as chair on schedule, according to CNBC.
The matter resurfaced on September 30, when President Trump called for Powell's resignation and said in a Truth Social post that he had asked Blanche, then recently elevated to Attorney General, to study the Fed inspector general's renovation report and decide what to do. Blanche's confirmation that no new criminal probe will proceed closes off that path.
Fed Governor Kevin Hassett said this week that Powell alone decides whether he stays on as chair, and that if Kevin Warsh takes on a role at the Fed, he would have to work alongside Powell, a setup Hassett called unusual. With the criminal investigation now off the table, the question of who controls monetary policy stays with Powell rather than shifting to an abrupt removal scenario, lowering the odds of a disruptive leadership shock to policy continuity in the near term, even as broader questions over succession and the path of interest rates remain unresolved.