Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, during a confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, April 21, 2026.
Samuel Coram Bloomberg | getty images
The Justice Department’s criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has only been “temporarily halted,” a pair of Democratic senators said in a letter sent to the department on Friday and obtained by CNBC.
“Your announcement leaves the door open for you to reopen the criminal investigation against Chair Powell — or future unfounded investigations of Powell or other Fed governors and future Fed chairmen — should it once again become politically expedient for you to do so,” Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D.-Mass., and Dick Durbin, D.-Ill., said in the letter addressed to Jeanine Pirro, U.S. Attorney for the District of Washington, D.C.
Pirro said in a statement Friday that the Fed’s inspector general had been asked to investigate the cost overruns of the ongoing renovation project. Pirro did not say who made the request. Powell last year asked the inspector general to look into the issue.
“I have directed my office to close our investigation as the IG conducts this investigation,” Pirro said. “Please note, however, that I will not hesitate to reopen a criminal investigation if I feel the need to do so based on the facts.”
Pirro’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Fed declined to comment on Pirro’s decision early Friday. Powell said in January that he had received a subpoena from Pirro’s office. He condemned them as an excuse and said the Trump administration was angry at him for not cutting interest rates faster and more than the Fed deemed appropriate.
Prosecutors from Pirro’s office told a judge in March that they had no specific evidence of wrongdoing. The judge quashed Pirro’s subpoena. Appellate lawyers told CNBC that it would be difficult to appeal.
The senators’ letter examines possible political motivations for the investigation. “From your perspective, what kind of ‘facts’ are there that would require reopening the investigation?” Warren and Durbin ask.
They ask Pirro whether President Donald Trump or other administration officials were informed of the decision to halt the investigation. They also ask for details upon request from the Fed’s Inspector General.
Former Fed general counsel Scott Alvarez said Friday that the institution was likely asking Pirro about similar issues.
“When he had initially started the investigation without any facts, what kind of facts would compel him to start the investigation again?” He said.
Warren said earlier Friday that she did not believe the Senate should not move forward on the confirmation of Kevin Wersh, Trump’s nominee to replace Powell. Warsh testified before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. One Republican on the committee, Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, has promised to block the nomination while the investigation continues.
Tillis has not commented on Pirro’s decision.