DOJ drops criminal probe of Fed Chair Powell, removes hurdle for Warsh confirmation

the doj dropped its criminal investigation of fed chair jerome powell on friday, clearing the way for the senate to vote on kevin warsh as his replacement. jeanine pirro, the top federal prosecutor in dc, announced the decision on x — just two days after saying she was committed to continuing the probe. the investigation had been crippled by a federal judge quashing subpoenas related to a multi-billion-dollar renovation of the fed's hq. sen. thom tillis had blocked a full senate vote on warsh unless the probe ended. pirro said the fed's inspector general would now investigate cost overruns on the project instead. "i will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so," she added. the white house said it remained confident the senate would "swiftly confirm" warsh. sen. tim scott, who chairs the banking committee, told cnbc he thought powell "was incompetent, not criminal" and that switching the probe to congress was essential to getting warsh confirmed.