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A federal judge blocked the Justice Department’s efforts to issue a pair of grand jury subpoenas sent to the Federal Reserve Board after concluding they were merely a “pretext” to pressure Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell into lowering interest rates or resigning.
In the ruling, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said 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.”
“The Court must thus conclude that the asserted justifications for these subpoenas are mere pretexts,” he added.
The news comes after U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office said last year it had opened a criminal inquiry into Powell related to the testimony he gave to Congress last year regarding the $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
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