Analysis: The threat to the Fed's independence isn't over

the threat to the fed's independence isn't over, even after jeanine pirro dropped her investigation into jerome powell on friday. columbia law professor lev menand said "we would be foolish to conclude from this that the fed is out of the woods." pirro's probe into cost overruns at fed renovation projects and powell's testimony about them had blocked kevin warsh's nomination as chair, because sen. thom tillis refused to let it proceed while the investigation was pending. tillis hasn't said whether he'll drop his resistance now. pirro said she wants to see results from the fed's inspector general first, and "will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so." scott alvarez, former fed general counsel, said the ambiguity in pirro's statement "might cause jay to worry about harassment by doj after he's left the fed." warsh pledged at his nomination hearing tuesday that rate decisions are the fed's, not the president's. but trump told cnbc that morning he'd be disappointed if warsh doesn't quickly lower rates. trump has already removed governor lisa cook from the board over mortgage fraud allegations she's fighting in court, and suggested on fox business april 15 that he'll fire powell if he doesn't leave "on time." powell can stay as a governor through january 2028.