Fed Chair Powell says he’s under criminal investigation, won’t bow to Trump intimidation

Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, he confirmed on Sunday evening.

Powell said the probe was the result of the Fed “setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of” President Donald Trump.

“On Friday, the Department of Justice served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas threatening a criminal indictment related to my testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last June,” Powell said in a video statement tweeted by the Fed’s X account.

“That testimony concerned in part, a multi-year project to renovate historic Federal Reserve office buildings,” he said.

“I have deep respect for the rule of law and for accountability in our democracy. No one, certainly not the chair of the Federal Reserve is above the law, but this unprecedented action should be seen in the broader context of the administration’s threats and ongoing pressure,” Powell said.

The New York Times first reported the probe, citing officials briefed on the matter.

The investigation is being overseen by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, according to the newspaper.

That office is led by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, a former New York state prosecutor and Fox News host, who was appointed to that job by Trump.

Trump has repeatedly blasted Powell for the Fed not cutting interest rates as much and as quickly as the president has demanded since entering the White House in January 2025.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, and a member of the Senate Banking Committee, blasted the investigation of Powell and said that he would oppose the nomination of Powell’s replacement by Trump, and any other Fed Board nominee, “until this legal matter is fully resolved.”

“If there were any remaining doubt whether advisers within the Trump Administration are actively pushing to end the independence of the Federal Reserve, there should now be none,” Tillis said in a statement.

“It is now the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice that are in question,” the senator said.

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