‘No evidence whatsoever’: Judge rejects subpoenas, blasts DOJ investigation targeting Fed chair 

President Donald Trump’s push for a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell hit the skids Friday when a federal judge rejected prosecutors’ subpoenas to the Fed.

District Judge James Boasberg excoriated the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C. for the case against Powell, which relates to renovation at the Fed’s headquarters, calling it political persecution aimed at pressuring the Fed chair to lower interest rates or quit.

“Did prosecutors issue those subpoenas for a proper purpose? The Court finds that they did not,” Boasberg wrote in a decision unsealed Friday. “There is abundant evidence that the subpoenas’ 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.”

“On the other side of the scale,” Boasberg continued, “the Government has offered no evidence whatsoever that Powell committed any crime other than displeasing the president.”

Trump, who appointed Powell during his first term, has repeatedly attacked the central banker for not reducing interest rates as quickly as he’d like. Lower rates would encourage economic growth, but could also stoke inflation. When news emerged that the renovation of the Fed’s Marriner S. Eccles Building had gone over budget, Trump began to publicly suggest Powell be held criminally responsible

After the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C. — led by Trump loyalist Jeanine Pirro — issued two subpoenas to the Fed Board, Powell gave a rare public statement rebuking the investigation. 

Lawmakers across the political spectrum lambasted the probe as an attack on the Fed’s independence. 

In quashing the subpoenas, Boasberg opened his opinion by quoting a social media post Trump made attacking Powell, “one of at least 100 statements that the President or his deputies have made attacking the Chair of the Federal Reserve and pressuring him to lower interest rates.”

“Perhaps it comes as no surprise, then,” Boasberg added, “that the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office has recently opened a criminal investigation into Powell.”

In the wake of the ruling, Pirro held a press conference to deride Boasberg as an activist judge. Near the end, she responded aggressively to a journalist’s question about the historic number of cases grand juries had rejected.

“Oh, cut it out!” Pirro yelled. “Do you know how many convictions we’ve got?”

“I’m willing to take a not guilty, I’m willing to take a no true bill,” she said. “Cause I’ll take all the crimes and put ‘em in!”