On March 13, 2026, Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg quashed two grand jury subpoenas that the Justice Department had served on the Federal Reserve Board in its criminal investigation of Fed Chair Jerome Powell, finding they were issued for an improper purpose.
The subpoenas came from the office of Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. In a 27-page opinion, Boasberg wrote: “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.” He added: “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.”
The investigation's stated subject was Powell's June 2025 Senate testimony about the Fed's $2.5 billion headquarters renovation. Powell disclosed it in a January 11 video, calling the renovation and testimony “pretexts” and saying, “The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president.” Trump told NBC News he knew nothing about the probe. Trump has demanded lower rates and routinely attacked Powell since before his second term began. Pirro called Boasberg an “activist judge,” said the ruling was “untethered to the law,” and vowed to appeal; Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who was blocking Fed nominees until the probe ended, said the ruling showed “just how weak and frivolous” the investigation was.
Update (October 2, 2026): Boasberg upheld his ruling in April. On April 24, Pirro said she was closing the investigation and referring the renovation costs to the Fed's inspector general, while saying she “will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so” (see DOJ Drops Criminal Probe of Fed Chair Powell, Clearing the Path to Install Warsh Three Days After His Senate Testimony, After the Fed's Watchdog Finds No Crime, Trump Says Powell Should Be Sued 'for Either Corruption or Incompetence'). Instead of appealing, she asked Boasberg in May to vacate his rulings, according to CNBC.
Correction (October 2, 2026): The entry said Trump “has openly stated he believes the president should have a say in monetary policy”; no source in this entry supports that, and it has been removed.