Warren, Durbin Question Pirro on Threat to Restart Powell Investigation

Warren, Durbin Question Pirro on Threat to Restart Powell Investigation

"Your assertion that the 'facts' will guide your future decision-making is also cold comfort, as it appears that the President's whims-not reality-have guided the DOJ's investigation to date."

"(T)he Administration's politically motivated criminal investigations of Powell and Fed Governor Lisa Cook have been a flagrant abuse of power that should never have been started in the first place."

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Jeanine Pirro, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, regarding her announcement today that she was pausing the Department of Justice's criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and threatening that she could reopen it at any time. In their letter, the Senators also requested answers on whether Pirro consulted President Trump before today's announcement - and whether the probe in Governor Lisa Cook is still open.

"In recent months, your office has been engaged in a pretextual investigation into Chair Powell. Though nominally an examination of his congressional testimony about the Federal Reserve's renovation of two Washington, D.C. office buildings, the investigation was, in reality, driven by President Trump's displeasure that Chair Powell had not voted to lower interest rates at his request," wrote the Ranking Members.

"Earlier today, you promised a temporary pause to the investigation. Specifically, you announced, "This morning the Inspector General for the Federal Reserve has been asked to scrutinize the (Fed's) building costs overruns … I expect a comprehensive report in short order … Accordingly, I have directed my office to close our investigation as the IG undertakes this inquiry." Your announcement also contained a stark warning that you were prepared to reopen the criminal probe at any moment: "Note well, however, that I will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so." the Ranking Members continued.

The Ranking Members concluded: "These probes should be closed - and should stay closed, with a clear statement that there is no basis for reopening them. Instead, your announcement leaves the door wide open for you to relaunch the criminal probe against Chair Powell - or future baseless investigations into Powell or other Fed Governors and a future Fed Chair - should it once again become politically expedient for you to do so."

The Senators request written responses from the DOJ no later than April 27, 2026.

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