BREAKING: White House Drops Criminal Probe Into Fed Chair Jerome Powell
The Trump administration is backing down from its politically motivated criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, ending a probe that sparked fierce bipartisan backlash and threatened to destabilize America’s financial institutions.
The investigation had centered on alleged misstatements Powell made to Congress regarding cost overruns tied to an office renovation at the Fed’s Washington headquarters. The probe was widely seen as retaliation after Powell refused to bow to Trump’s repeated demands that the Fed slash interest rates.
Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a Republican, had drawn a hard line, threatening to block the confirmation of Powell’s successor unless the investigation was scrapped. His opposition gave the White House a political problem it could not ignore.
ABC News reporter Katherine Faulders broke the news Friday, revealing that senior Justice Department officials had quietly reached out to senators in recent days, including Tillis, to inform them the probe would be closed and the matter referred to the Fed’s internal watchdog instead.
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, confirmed the decision, announcing she had directed her office to close the investigation while the inspector general proceeds with its review. In a statement posted to X, she left the door open to revisiting the matter, though the announcement was widely interpreted as a full retreat.
Trump had originally appointed Powell to lead the Federal Reserve during his first term. The decision to weaponize the Justice Department against his own appointee for refusing to deliver a political favor had alarmed economists, legal scholars, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.