Bloomberg Podcasts
@bloombergpodcasts·503K subscribers·32.4K videos
Judge Rejects Subpoenas of Fed Board in Powell Case | Bloomberg Businessweek
Posted
March 14, 2026
Views
4,222
Likes
33
Comments
2
Engagement
March 14, 2026
4,222
33
2
0.83%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
38:44Now PlayingThe people, companies and trends shaping the global economy.
Watch Carol and Tim LIVE every day on YouTube().
A federal judge rejected as improper Justice Department subpoenas issued to the Federal Reserve Board seeking records relating to its renovations of its headquarters and Chair Jerome Powell’s comments to Congress about the project.
US District Judge James Boasberg said the government had advanced no evidence to justify the subpoenas and said they clearly reflected an “improper motive” of retaliating against Powell over policy differences. Jeanine Pirro, who leads the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, called the ruling wrong and said they would appeal the decision.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The Fed declined to comment.
“A mountain of evidence suggests that the government served these subpoenas on the Board to pressure its Chair into voting for lower interest rates or resigning,” Boasberg said. “On the other side of the scale, the government has produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime; indeed, its justifications are so thin and unsubstantiated that the court can only conclude that they are pretextual.”
DOJ issued subpoenas to the Fed in January threatening a criminal indictment, Powell said at the time. The subpoenas are related to the Fed’s ongoing $2.5 billion renovation of its headquarters in Washington and testimony Powell provided about the construction before the Senate Banking panel last year.
Powell, in an unusually forceful video response to the subpoenas, characterized the investigation as motivated by the Fed refusing to set interest rates according to the preferences of President Donald Trump.
Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor, has been nominated by Trump to replace Powell when the latter’s term as chair ends in May. North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, has vowed to block any Fed nominations as long as the DOJ investigation of Powell remains unresolved. Tillis reiterated that commitment this week.
Today's show features:
Elliot Stein, Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Litigation Analyst
Mike Collins, PGIM Fixed Income Managing Director & Executive Portfolio Advisor
Oleksandr Komarov, Kyivstar CEO
Katrina Manson, Bloomberg News Reporter covering Tech and National Security
See omnystudio.com/listener () for privacy information.
Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec bring together the latest news from the world of business and finance and the interesting stories of global technology, politics, economics and more by harnessing the power of Bloomberg Businessweek reporters and editors.
Subscribe to Bloomberg Podcasts
Listen to more of Bloomberg Businessweek
#Bloomberg #Podcast #News #Businessweek
Follow Bloomberg Podcasts on Twitter
Visit our other YouTube channels:
Bloomberg Television
Bloomberg Originals
For coverage on news, markets and more
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
