{"id":47360,"date":"2026-03-14T00:22:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T21:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/federal-judge-blocks-doj-subpoenas-targeting-federal-reserve-chair-powell\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T00:22:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T21:22:19","slug":"federal-judge-blocks-doj-subpoenas-targeting-federal-reserve-chair-powell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/federal-judge-blocks-doj-subpoenas-targeting-federal-reserve-chair-powell\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal judge blocks DOJ subpoenas targeting Federal Reserve Chair Powell"},"content":{"rendered":"

A federal judge on Friday blocked subpoenas<\/a> that the U.S. Department of Justice <\/strong>(DOJ) served the Federal Reserve <\/strong>in a case involving Jerome Powell\u2019s Congressional testimony on the central bank\u2019s headquarters renovation, concluding the effort appeared designed to \u201charass and pressure\u201d him to lower interest rates or resign from his position.<\/p>\n

The DOJ served the Fed with grand jury subpoenas in January, threatening a criminal indictment over Powell. His testimony was about the Fed\u2019s $2.5 billion renovation of its D.C. headquarters, but Powell said in a video<\/a> when receiving the subpoenas that concern about the renovation was just a pretext.<\/p>\n

Judge James Boasberg agreed. \u201cThere is abundant evidence that the subpoenas\u2019 dominant (if not sole) purpose is to harass and pressure Powell either to yield to the President or to resign and make way for a Fed Chair who will,\u201d Boasberg said in his memorandum opinion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the other side of the scale, the Government has offered no evidence whatsoever that Powell committed any crime other than displeasing the President. The Court must thus conclude that the asserted justifications for these subpoenas are mere pretexts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boasberg granted a motion from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to quash the subpoenas. The case was heard in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson said the Fed had nothing to share beyond the judge\u2019s decision. <\/p>\n

Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, criticized the ruling during a press conference Friday, calling Boasberg \u201can activist judge\u201d and arguing the decision undermines the DOJ\u2019s ability to investigate potential crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has neutered the grand jury\u2019s ability to investigate crime,\u201d Pirro said. \u201cJerome Powell today is now bathed in immunity preventing my office from investigating the Federal Reserve. This is wrong, and it is without legal authority,\u201d Pirro said. <\/p>\n

Pirro said the DOJ plans to appeal this \u201coutrageous\u201d decision.<\/p>\n

The DOJ began investigating Powell in November 2025 over alleged discrepancies in his Senate testimony about more than $1 billion in cost overruns tied to renovations of the Fed\u2019s headquarters, Pirro said. She added that prosecutors attempted multiple times to request documents and meetings with the Fed but received no response, prompting them to issue two grand jury subpoenas in January. <\/p>\n

Trump began urging Powell to cut interest rates shortly after<\/a> taking office. In July 2025, Trump told Republican lawmakers he would \u201c\u201clikely\u201d fire <\/a>\u00a0Powell soon. The administration also targeted other members of the central bank, including when he attempted to fire<\/a> Fed Governor Lisa Cook in August. Amid the mounting pressure campaign by the White House, Fed Governor Adriana Kugler resigned<\/a> and was replaced by Stephen Miran.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal judge on Friday blocked subpoenas that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) served the Federal Reserve in a case involving Jerome Powell\u2019s Congressional testimony on the central bank\u2019s headquarters renovation, concluding the effort appeared designed to \u201charass and pressure\u201d him to lower interest rates or resign from his position. The DOJ served the…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47360"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47360\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}