DOJ not reopening criminal probe into Powell, Blanche says
Published in Business News
The U.S. Justice Department isn’t reopening a criminal investigation into former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for cost overruns related to the central bank’s building renovation project.
Attorney General Todd Blanche didn’t rule out continuing to look into the project’s oversight and potentially take action if evidence of wrongdoing came to light.
“We’re not reopening a criminal investigation into him,” Blanche said in an exclusive interview with Bloomberg Friday.
Blanche commented on a report released this week by the Fed’s Office of Inspector General that found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Powell connected to the $2.4 billion project. The report identified a series of missteps that led to surging costs for the renovation, which had been initially budgeted at $1.3 billion in 2020.
Blanche said he was satisfied with the report, but that Powell hadn’t appropriately overseen the project.
The Fed has said it will engage an independent auditor to scrutinize the building costs. Blanche added that if that review finds any evidence of criminal wrongdoing, the Justice Department could investigate.
“I expect there will be an auditing process,” Blanche said. “If they learn anything that rises to any kind of criminal misconduct, you better believe we’re going to investigate that.”
The renovation project has drawn ongoing criticism from President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers, who accused the Fed of overspending and extravagant designs under Powell’s watch. Those claims were followed by a criminal investigation into Powell over his handling of the project.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said in April she instructed her office to drop the inquiry after lawmakers from both parties objected. Pirro’s office said she’s in the process of reviewing the 121-page report.
Trump said this week that Powell should resign from the Fed board over the IG’s findings. “If he doesn’t resign, he should be sued, at the highest level, by the United States Government, for either corruption or incompetence, both of which are completely unacceptable,” Trump posted on social media Wednesday.
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has feuded with Powell, who left the chair role in May, but remains on the Fed board.
While Powell was chair, the president called for more aggressive rate cuts, arguing the Fed should be acting to boost housing affordability and ease the government’s borrowing costs.
Regarding the upcoming midterm elections in November, Blanche threw cold water on the potential the administration would invoke the Insurrection Act to justify sending federal officers to the polls, which President Trump refused to rule out in a recent interview with TIME.
“No. We’re not looking at that,” Blanche told Bloomberg. He called the idea “fearmongering from Democrats.”
When pressed on the issue, Blanche said it was a hypothetical scenario and he had no idea what circumstances would cause that to even come into play, adding that it was “hard to imagine” that happening.
“The American people showed two years ago that their voice can be heard and heard loudly,” he said.
(With assistance from Jimmy Jenkins.)
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