❓WHAT HAPPENED: An anti-Trump federal judge quashed grand jury subpoenas sent to the Federal Reserve Board, citing them as a pretext to pressure Chairman Jerome Powell to lower interest rates or resign.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, and U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The ruling was dated March 11 and unsealed on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
💬KEY QUOTE: “The Court must thus conclude that the asserted justifications for these subpoenas are mere pretexts,” wrote Chief Judge James Boasberg.
🎯IMPACT: The move by Judge Boasberg is relatively unprecedented, and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro says her office will appeal the decision.
Anti-Trump federal judge James Boasberg has quashed grand jury subpoenas issued to the Federal Reserve Board, claiming it is his belief they were intended to pressure the central bank’s chairman, Jerome Powell, into either cutting interest rates or resigning. The move is relatively unprecedented, especially as Judge Boasberg appears to be implying the government and the grand jury itself must have probable cause to issue subpoenas. Notably, the U.S. Supreme Court has long upheld grand juries’ far-reaching investigatory powers, going so far as to hold that subpoenas can be issued even on the mere rumor of a crime.
In his ruling, Boasberg specifically argued that subpoenas were a political “pretext” to engineer an outcome desired by President Donald J. Trump and claimed there is a lack of evidence of malfeasance on Powell’s part. In January, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro launched a criminal investigation into Powell, serving subpoenas related to testimony he gave to a Senate committee about renovations to the central bank’s offices. These renovations have seen cost overruns well over a billion dollars.
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.” He added, “The Court must thus conclude that the asserted justifications for these subpoenas are mere pretexts.”
The chief judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia also cited President Trump’s public criticisms of Powell, including a social media post in which Trump referred to Powell as “TOO LATE, and actually, TOO ANGRY, TOO STUPID, & TOO POLITICAL, to have the job of Fed Chair.” The judge noted that such comments formed part of a pattern of pressure on Powell to lower interest rates.
Appointed to the bench by former President Barack Obama, Boasberg has drawn an unusually high number of key cases involving the Trump administration, ruling against the President every time.
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