Axios
A U.S. judge on Friday stood by his decision to quash Department of Justice subpoenas targeting Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell. Why it matters: The ruling is the latest development in the Trump administration's unprecedented investigation into the nation's top central banker. The government can appeal the decision, prolonging a standoff that could delay the confirmation of Kevin Warsh — President Trump's pick to replace Powell. Driving the news: The U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., denied the government's motion to reconsider an earlier decision to throw out the grand jury subpoenas directed at Powell. Flashback : Judge James Boasberg, the court's chief judge, quashed the subpoenas last month on the grounds that the probe was aimed at pressuring Powell into yielding to Trump or resigning. In the aftermath of the decision, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, said at a press conference that the investigation process had been "arbitrarily undermined by an activist judge." Zoom in : Powell disclosed in January that he received subpoenas seeking records related to the central bank's multibillion-dollar building renovations. The government was examining whether Powell had committed fraud and lied to Congress about those renovations. What they're saying: Boasberg doubled down on his previous position in a sharply worded opinion on Friday. " The Government's arguments do not come close to convincing the Court that a different outcome is warranted," the judge wrote. "The Government's fundamental problem is that it has presented no evidence whatsoever of fraud." A spokesman for the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia said: "We will absolutely appeal the judiciary's interference with our access to the grand jury." The intrigue: Warsh is in confirmation limbo so long as the DOJ presses ahead on its investigation into Powell, whose term expires next month. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a key Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, has repeatedly vowed to block Warsh's confirmation until the investigation is dropped. Editor's note: This story has been updated with a statement from the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, D.C.
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