The Department of Justice is expected to drop its criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell as soon as today, ABC News reports.
Senator Thom Tillis said he wouldn’t advance the nomination of Kevin Warsh so long as the probe remained open. Other Republican Senators were also strongly against it.
Powell’s term ends next month.
The report says that senior DOJ officials have informed senators, including Tillis and the Senate Banking Committee, that they plan to refer the matter concerning alleged cost overruns at the Fed’s Washington headquarters to the bank’s internal watchdog instead. The Fed’s independent inspector general had previously audited the $2.5 billion renovation project in 2021, and Powell had requested another review last year.
Powell’s term ends next month, but he has committed to remaining in his position until President Trump’s nominee, Kevin Warsh, is confirmed. District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro had maintained her investigation would continue despite Judge James Boasberg’s March ruling that tossed out her subpoenas to Powell. Pirro announced this week she was appealing the decision, arguing prosecutors should have broad grand jury access. It remains unclear whether prosecutors will now drop that appeal.
Powell publicly revealed the investigation in a January video message, characterizing it as a Trump administration attempt to pressure the Fed into lowering interest rates. Tillis had announced in January that he would block all Fed nominees until the probe was resolved, calling the investigation “weak” and “frivolous” and warning that DOJ independence was at stake. His opposition, combined with unified Democratic resistance on the narrowly divided Banking Committee, had made advancing Warsh’s nomination impossible
