Judge denies DOJ request to revive Federal Reserve subpoenas

Washington — A national justice connected Friday rejected efforts by the Justice Department to revive 2 subpoenas it served to the Federal Reserve arsenic portion of its transgression probe into Chairman Jerome Powell and the Fed's gathering renovations, aft the justice had quashed them connected the grounds they were pretextual and not based connected grounds of a crime.

"The Government's arguments bash not travel adjacent to convincing the Court that a antithetic result is warranted," wrote Chief Judge for the District of Columbia James Boasberg.

In January, Powell revealed that the Federal Reserve had received expansive assemblage subpoenas from the Justice Department arsenic portion of an ongoing transgression probe into him.

The subpoenas threatened a transgression indictment related to Powell's grounds earlier the Senate Banking Committee successful June 2025, according to Powell. The president — who has drawn President Trump's ire for declining to rapidly slash involvement rates — said the probe centered connected his comments astir a years-long renovation task astatine the Federal Reserve's bureau buildings. The probe has not resulted successful immoderate transgression charges.

In sealed proceedings, lawyers for the Federal Reserve asked Boasberg to quash them. Boasberg granted the petition and unsealed his determination past month, prompting U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro to impeach him of being an "activist judge" whose determination was "untethered to the law."

The authorities is some appealing the ruling and filed a abstracted question asking Boasberg to reconsider his decision.