The U.S. Attorney General for the nation’s capital said Friday she had closed an investigation into cost overruns in a renovation project of the Federal Reserve’s Washington, D.C. headquarters.
“This morning the Inspector General for the Federal Reserve has been asked to scrutinize the building costs overruns–in the billions of dollars–that have been borne by taxpayers,” said Jeanine Pirro, the top federal prosecutor for Washington, D.C., in a post on X. “Accordingly, I have directed my office to close our investigation as the IG undertakes this inquiry.”
Pirro has said she convened a grand jury that subpoenaed the Federal Reserve months ago after the central bank ignored her office’s requests for information about the construction project. Fed chairman Jerome Powell responded with a video in which he accused the Trump administration of using the probe as a pretext to get the bank to lower interest rates, something President Trump has been demanding for months. Powell offered no evidence to support his allegation and President Trump has said he knew nothing of the investigation prior to Powell’s video.
The investigation became a roadblock for efforts to confirm Kevin Warsh as the next chair of the Fed. Senator Thom Tillis, the Republican of North Carolina, said that while he supports Warsh’s confirmation, he would not vote to advance the nomination until the Pirro investigation was dropped. Tillis repeated this at a committee hearing on the nomination this week.
This week, Pirro said her investigation was continuing and that she would not allow politics to influence her office.
Powell, whose term as chairman expires on May 15 but whose governorship technically continues until 2028, has said he would not leave the Fed as long as the investigation continued. He did not say whether he would leave if it were dropped. Powell has also said he intends to remain chair after his term expires if no successor is confirmed. Powell cited no legal authority allowing him to cling to the office and legal experts say this would be open to challenge by the Trump administration.
Pirro left open the possibility that she could relaunch the investigation.
“Note well, however, that I will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so,” Pirro said.
It was not immediately clear if this would satisfy Tillis or Powell. Both have called for the investigation to be dropped without the possibility of it being reopened.
Read the full article here