DOJ to appeal judge's decision to block Fed subpoenas in Powell criminal probe
Last edited Fri Mar 13, 2026, 05:01 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: CNBC
Published Fri, Mar 13 2026 2:57 PM EDT Updated 29 Min Ago
A federal judge in a scathing ruling blocked subpoenas issued by a grand jury to the Federal Reserve as part of a criminal investigation of Chair Jerome Powell. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro immediately said that the Department of Justice would appeal what she called the “outrageous” ruling, after it was unsealed Friday.
Friday’s action will likely keep Powell in the chairman’s seat longer because Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has vowed to block Kevin Warsh’s confirmation to succeed Powell until the federal investigation ends. That may mean interest rates remain higher than President Donald Trump wants for longer because Powell has refused to bend to the president’s demands to lower them further.
Boasberg, in his ruling, said evidence showed Pirro was motivated to investigate Powell because of a desire to get the Fed chief to bow to Trump and cut interest rates quickly and broadly. Pirro’s investigation purportedly is focused on the Fed’s multi-billion-dollar renovation of its headquarters in Washington and on Powell’s testimony to the Senate Banking Committee about that project.
“Did prosecutors issue those subpoenas for a proper purpose? The Court finds that they did not,” Boasberg wrote in the decision in U.S. District Court in D.C., which was dated Wednesday, but unsealed on 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,” the judge wrote.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/13/fed-jerome-powell-investigation-trump-pirro-doj.html
Just breaking!
Link to ORDER (PDF viewer) - https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/27878017-boasberg-ruling-on-grand-jury/
Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/27878017/boasberg-ruling-on-grand-jury.pdf
Article updated.
Previous articles/headline -
A federal judge in a scathing ruling blocked subpoenas issued by a grand jury to the Federal Reserve as part of a criminal investigation of Chair Jerome Powell. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro immediately said that the Department of Justice would appeal what she called the "outrageous" ruling, after it was unsealed Friday.
Friday's action will likely keep Powell in the chairman's seat longer because Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has vowed to block Kevin Warsh's confirmation to succeed Powell until the federal investigation ends. That may mean interest rates remain higher than President Donald Trump wants for longer because Powell has refused to bend to the president's demands to lower them further.
Boasberg, in his ruling, said evidence showed Pirro was motivated to investigate Powell because of a desire to get the Fed chief to bow to President Donald Trump's will and cut interest rates quickly and broadly. Pirro's investigation purportedly is focused on the Fed's multi-billion-dollar renovation of its headquarters in Washington, and on Powell's testimony to the Senate Banking Committee about that project.
"Did prosecutors issue those subpoenas for a proper purpose? The Court finds that they did not," Boasberg wrote in the decision in U.S. District Court in D.C., which was dated Wednesday, but unsealed on 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," the judge wrote.
A federal judge in a scathing ruling blocked subpoenas issued to the Federal Reserve as part of a criminal investigation of its chair, Jerome Powell, by the prosecutors in the office of U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro, a court filing unsealed on Friday showed.
Judge James Boasberg said evidence showed Pirro was motivated to investigate Powell because of a desire to get the Fed chief to bow to President Donald Trump's will and cut interest rates quickly and broadly. Pirro's investigation purportedly is focused on the Fed's multi-billion-dollar renovation of its headquarters in Washington, and on Powell's testimony to the Senate Banking Committee about that project.
"Did prosecutors issue those subpoenas for a proper purpose? The Court finds that they did not," Boasberg wrote in the decision in U.S. District Court in D.C., which was dated Wednesday, but unsealed on 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," the judge wrote. "On the other side of the scale, the Government has offered no evidence whatsoever that Powell committed any crime other than displeasing the President," Boasberg wrote.
Published Fri, Mar 13 2026 2:57 PM EDT Updated 3 Min Ago
Federal Judge James Boasberg, in a scathing ruling, blocked subpoenas issued to the Federal Reserve as part of a criminal investigation of its chair, Jerome Powell, by the prosecutors in the office of U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro, a court filing showed Friday.
"Did prosecutors issue those subpoenas for a proper purpose? The Court finds that they did not," Boasberg wrote. "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," the judge wrote.
"On the other side of the scale, the Government has offered no evidence whatsoever that Powell committed any crime other than displeasing the President," Boasberg wrote.
Pirro, who CNBC has learned planned to appeal the ruling, is set to give an update on the probe of Powell on Friday afternoon.
A federal judge has blocked subpoenas issued to the Federal Reserve as part of a criminal investigation of its chair, Jerome Powell, by the prosecutors in the office of U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro, a court filing showed Friday.
Pirro is set to give an update on the probe of Jerome Powell on Friday afternoon.
Pirro's planned statement comes as Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has vowed to continue a blockage of President Donald Trump's nominee to replace Powell, Kevin Warsh, as chair. Tillis has said he will not lift that block until the investigation of Powell is resolved.
Powell has said he learned he was under investigation by Pirro's office, ostensibly in connection with pricey renovations of the Federal Reserve headquarters, and his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee about that project.
Original article -
U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro is set to give an update on the criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday.
Pirro's planned statement comes as Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has vowed to continue a blockage of President Donald Trump's nominee to replace Powell, Kevin Warsh, as chair. Tillis has said he will not lift that block until the investigation of Powell is resolved.
Powell has said he learned he was under investigation by Pirro's office, ostensibly in connection with pricey renovations of the Federal Reserve headquarters, and his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee about that project.
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https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/13/politics/fed-chair-jerome-powell-subpoena
The ruling is a major blow to President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly criticized Powell for not lowering interest rates and urged the Justice Department to investigate the outgoing chair.
US District Judge James “Jeb” Boasberg wrote in the new opinion that a “mountain of evidence suggests that the Government served these subpoenas on the Board to pressure its Chair into voting for lower interest rates or resigning.”
“On the other side of the scale, the Government has produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime; indeed, its justifications are so thin and unsubstantiated that the Court can only conclude that they are pretextual,” Boasberg said.
"This will be fun to watch". 
(and another "Pirro Special" goes down)
the Melissa McCarthy "Spicey" on SNL!