Federal prosecutors working under U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro attempted to “circumvent” court limits on their investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell by making an unannounced visit to the Fed construction site and requesting a “tour,” lawyers for the central bank said Tuesday.
According to an email reviewed by the Washington Examiner, outside counsel Robert Hur rebuked the effort after officials from Pirro’s office arrived without notice and asked to “check on progress” at the central bank’s headquarters renovation project — an issue already at the center of a stalled criminal investigation.
“As you know, Chief Judge James Boasberg has concluded that your interest in the Federal Reserve’s renovation project was pretextual,” wrote Hur, who is representing the Fed. “Should you wish to challenge that finding, the courts provide an avenue for you; it is not appropriate for you to try to circumvent it.”
Hur added that prosecutors should not attempt to contact the Federal Reserve outside the presence of counsel.
The visit occurred Tuesday morning, according to a source familiar with the matter, and involved prosecutors Steven Vandervelden and Carlton Davis, along with investigator Matthew Fox-Moles. The officials did not call ahead and briefly interacted with contractors working on the active job site, raising safety concerns due to the active construction zone at the Fed building in Washington.
The unusual visit came amid a feud between President Donald Trump and the Federal Reserve, with Trump repeatedly pressuring Powell over interest rate decisions and criticizing the central bank’s leadership as out of step with his economic agenda. But the episode on Tuesday marked a new escalation in the Justice Department’s struggling investigation into Powell over his congressional testimony regarding the costly, yearslong renovation of the Federal Reserve’s historic buildings.
The investigation has centered on cost overruns tied to the Federal Reserve’s multiyear headquarters renovation, which has reportedly ballooned far beyond its original budget. Officials aligned with the inquiry have pointed to Powell’s congressional testimony about the project as a basis for scrutiny.
But the case has already been significantly curtailed in court. In March, Boasberg, a nominee of former President Barack Obama, blocked subpoenas issued by Pirro’s office, finding the government had produced “essentially zero evidence” of criminal wrongdoing. A subsequent attempt to revive those subpoenas was rejected earlier this month. Her office has yet to appeal Boasberg’s decision.
Despite those rulings, Pirro defended the attempted inspection Tuesday night, pointing to reported cost overruns tied to the Federal Reserve project.
“Any construction project that has cost overruns of almost 80% over the original construction budget deserves some serious review,” she said in response to a Wall Street Journal report that first referenced the Tuesday visit.
Hur, who was appointed U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland by Trump in 2018, later served as special counsel investigating then-President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents, concluding that while Biden had willfully retained sensitive materials, Hur did not feel he could secure a conviction on criminal charges because a jury would likely see him as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
He was hired in March to represent the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.
The unannounced visit adds new pressure to an already complicated confirmation process for Kevin Warsh, Trump’s nominee to replace Powell. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) has said he will block the nomination until the DOJ drops its Powell investigation, while Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) signaled the inquiry could wrap up soon, a move that appears to contrast with the administration’s current decision process.
Trump indicated Wednesday that he wants the investigation to continue, describing it as both a criminal inquiry and a broader examination of “incompetence.” And if Powell stays on as Fed governor after his successor is confirmed, Trump told Fox Business, “I’ll have to fire him.”
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“If he’s not leaving on time — I’ve held back firing him,” Trump added. “I’ve wanted to fire him, but I hate to be controversial. I want to be uncontroversial.”
A spokesperson for the DOJ referred the Washington Examiner to Pirro’s office, and a Pirro spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
