Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference following a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee at the Federal Reserve on Oct. 29, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong | Getty Images
The Department of Justice on Friday dropped its criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, removing a major hurdle to President Donald Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh to replace him.
Jeanine Pirro, the top federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia, announced the decision to abandon the Powell probe on X.
Pirro had said on Wednesday that she was committed to continuing the probe, which had been crippled by a federal judge’s ruling quashing subpoenas her office issued to the Federal Reserve related to a multi-billion-dollar renovation of its headquarters in Washington.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, had put an effective hold on the Senate confirming Warsh unless the criminal investigation of Powell was dropped.
Pirro said Friday that the Fed’s inspector general, an internal watchdog, had been asked to investigate cost overruns in the headquarters project, which had been the purported basis for her criminal probe of Powell.
“The IG has the authority to hold the Federal Reserve accountable to American taxpayers,” Pirro said in her post.
“I expect a comprehensive report in short order and am confident the outcome will assist in resolving, once and for all, the questions that led this office to issue subpoenas,” she said.
“Accordingly, I have directed my office to close our investigation as the IG undertakes this inquiry,” Pirro said.
“Note well, however, that I will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so.”
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