Pirro keeps pressure on Fed’s Powell despite dropping investigation

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 a power struggle over the influential central bank. How she handles an impending appeal will help determine the extent of President Donald Trump’s influence over the Fed.

Pirro has until Monday to appeal the decision by District of Columbia Chief Judge James Boasberg to the feds to revoke his subpoena.

What his office says in the filing will be key in determining how long Powell will stay at the Fed after his presidency ends, and therefore when Trump will be able to appoint a new Fed governor in his place. It could also determine whether an effective truce is reached between Trump and the Fed, or if hostilities resume, potentially destabilizing markets.

The Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment. The Fed declined to comment.

Pirro said on April 24 that she would close the investigation while Fed Inspector General Michael Horowitz looked into renovation costs. But he left enough room for himself to reopen it.

“I would not hesitate to reopen a criminal investigation if the facts warrant doing so,” thread Said in an X post.

Shortly thereafter, Trump said he believed the investigation was still ongoing. “It has not been taken down,” Trump told reporters on April 25.

By tradition the Justice Department 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 convicted for the second time this week after a judge dismissed an earlier charge in November.

Pirro wants an appeals court to overturn Boasberg’s decision blocking the subpoena. This is a problem for Powell because it shows that Pirro is trying to stall the investigation long enough to get Powell out of the way while maintaining the threat.

Powell, who plans to remain as a member to oversee the Fed, and his legal team will watch the appeal carefully. He said he had received assurances from Pirro’s office that “if they appeal the recent court decision, they will not seek to reopen the investigation or send new subpoenas as part of that appeal.”

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

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

But Pirro has not abandoned his claim that there is something wrong with the Fed’s renewals. “You’ve got billions of dollars of cost overruns on a very small project,” he said.

His office has been considering that question for six months and has produced no evidence of wrongdoing.

Former assistant U.S. attorney Sean P. Murphy said Pirro appeared to be exaggerating the judge’s challenge to his ability to investigate.

“Judge Boasberg is not saying you can never get a subpoena again,” Murphy said. “He’s saying you have to have the facts.”

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

Because of that type of risk, DOJ procedures Requires that the appeal be signed by the Solicitor General, a top-ranking official who reports directly to the Attorney General.

It is unclear how Pirro and senior DOJ officials coordinated on the Powell investigation. The DOJ has not commented on the assurances Powell received from Pirro’s office about the status of the investigation.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch was asked Sunday if he was committed to not reopening the investigation. He did not answer the question directly but referred to Fed Inspector General Horowitz. “If he uncovers evidence of criminal conduct, there’s no doubt we will investigate,” Blanch said.

Senator Thom Tillis, R-N.C. dropped its holdup on Fed chair candidate Kevin Wersh because of its understanding that Pirro’s investigation was coming to an end. He and Powell say they believe the investigation will only be reopened if Horowitz reveals some new wrongdoing. But Blanche leaves open the possibility that she could reopen the investigation, even if what the IG finds is less than criminal.

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