DOJ Says it Will Not Reopen Criminal Probe Into Former Fed Chair Powell
The Department of Justice will not reopen its criminal investigation into former Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell over the Fed’s multibillion-dollar headquarters renovation, a department spokesperson told CNBC.
“We’re not reopening a criminal investigation into him,” Attorney General Todd Blanche told Bloomberg in an interview Friday.
In his interview, however, Blanche did not rule out future Justice Department action. He told Bloomberg an independent audit of the renovation could prompt an investigation should it uncover evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
Blanche’s comments come days after the Federal Reserve’s inspector general found no reasonable grounds to believe that a federal crime had occurred requiring a referral to the attorney general. The watchdog faulted the Fed for major management and oversight failures that contributed to the project’s soaring costs.
Trump Wants Powell to Resign
President Donald Trump slammed the decision and said on a Truth Social Wednesday after the news, saying that Powell should be “forced to resign” from the central bank’s Board of Governors “at a minimum.”
“He can’t manage a Building, and he certainly shouldn’t be allowed to manage his High Interest Rate Policy (only on ‘TRUMP!’),” Trump said.
The long-awaited IG report concluded that the Fed should have done more to rein in the project’s cost, which has ballooned to an estimated $2.38 billion — more than $1 billion over a 2020 projection, Politico noted. But the agency said there were no “reasonable grounds to believe that a violation of criminal law had occurred,” nor was there misconduct by the Fed board.
Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said in response that the General Services Administration will take over management of the project.
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