US attorney general says won't reopen criminal case against former Fed chair

US attorney general says won't reopen criminal case against former Fed chair

US Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Friday that he would not be reopening a probe into former US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell over a building renovation project, after a government watchdog cleared the latter of criminal wrongdoing.

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Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump demanded Powell resign from the central bank's board over the watchdog's report, which concluded there had been poor management but no criminal wrongdoing in the costly project.

Trump ordered Blanche on Wednesday to examine the Office of the Inspector General report to determine a future course of action.

"We're not reopening a criminal investigation into him," Blanche told Bloomberg News on Friday, referring to Powell, although he did not rule out continuing to look into the project's oversight.

In his second term, Trump had launched an unprecedented assault on the Fed's independence as he demanded the central bank cut rates to spur economic activity.

He frequently criticized and insulted Powell during his tenure as Fed chair and is continuing to attempt to fire another Fed governor, Lisa Cook.

Trump's Justice Department initiated a criminal probe into Powell over the costly renovations, but dropped it to clear the path for the Senate confirmation of the White House's chosen successor at the Fed, Kevin Warsh.

When he announced that the DOJ probe had been launched in January, Powell explicitly said it was meant to pressure the Fed to set interest rates in line with Trump's preferences.

In a highly unusual move, he did not resign his post on the Fed's Board of Governors when his term as chair ended in May.

At the time, Powell said he would not leave that position until the probe over the cost overruns was "well and truly over, with transparency and finality."

Speaking to Bloomberg, Blanche said he was satisfied with the OIG report but that Powell had not overseen the project properly.

Costs for the major renovation project at the Fed's headquarters in Washington ballooned from $1.3 billion in February 2020 to $2.4 billion in December 2024, according to the OIG report.

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