According to combined media reports, US District Judge James Boasberg questioned the legality of the investigation.
“Did prosecutors issue those subpoenas for a proper purpose? The Court finds that they did not,” Boasberg wrote in his decision, which was dated Wednesday, but unsealed on Friday. “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.”
Boasberg, an Obama appointee 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.”
Powell revealed the DOJ’s investigation into him in an online video in January. Powell’s term as chairman expires in May and he has withstood multiple threats of being fired by President Trump.
Jeanine Pirro, US Attorney for Washington, DC, criticized the judge’s ruling, calling it “without legal authority” and declaring that “Jerome Powell is now bathed in immunity.”
“This outrageous decision will be appealed by the Department of Justice,” she stated.
