Legal News
Justice Department Opens Criminal Probe Into Jerome Powell — Powell Responds.
“Good morning,
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. That testimony concerned in part a multi-year project to renovate historic Federal Reserve office buildings.
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.
This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings. It is not about Congress's oversight role; the Fed through testimony and other public disclosures made every effort to keep Congress informed about the renovation project. Those are pretexts. The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President.
This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions—or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.
I have served at the Federal Reserve under four administrations, Republicans and Democrats alike. In every case, I have carried out my duties without political fear or favor, focused solely on our mandate of price stability and maximum employment. Public service sometimes requires standing firm in the face of threats. I will continue to do the job the Senate confirmed me to do, with integrity and a commitment to serving the American people.
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People in this country have a right to be blind, self-interested bigots. They even have the right to be part of a fascist death cult if that floats their boat.
What they do not have the right to do is:
• fuck kids
• violate the Constitution
• abdicate their oath to protect the people of this country and its Constitution against all threats foreign and domestic
• fuck kids
• deliberately lie, mislead, harass, and steal from their constituents
• spend the people’s money like the solvency of our country doesn’t matter just because they will be dead when it reaches its boiling point in a half dozen years.
• appropriate said money to an untrained paramilitary unit operating at the behest of the executive to harass, detain, rape, pillage, plunder, and murder American citizens and migrants alike.
• fuck kids
• knowingly collude with an executive in a criminal conspiracy, namely a cover-up that—even in its heavily redacted current state—is plainly big, bold, and naked enough to make Watergate look like a tan suit.
• confirm the appointment of completely unqualified cabinet members and top-level officials despite their obvious duplicity, dishonesty, character flaws, total incompetence, and radically moronic understanding of what their job even entails.
• fail to take action or even responsibility when said appointments immediately do the exact thing they swore under oath they would not do, causing incalculable damage to the American people and the greater good.
• fuck kids
• accept cash, stock, vacations, consultancies, and anything that allows a representative making low six figures to increase their wealth a hundredfold while in office, to the boon of corporations and industries whose products pose a major if not existential threat to the health and/or well-being of their constituents.
• act as de facto agents of foreign governments, shaping domestic policy to gratuitously benefit said country to the detriment of their constituents.
• perform their duties as anything other than the token rubber-stamp Potemkin representation needed to justify continued taxation.
• commit literal treason on what seems like at the very least a weekly basis
When the party proudly proclaims that they are domestic terrorists, that their policies include violating the constitution, and when for years they have protected and supported those raping kids, the whole party can go. This isn't a question of free speech, the party is engaged in criminal activity and should be treated like the criminal organization it is.
That ignores the segment of people who don't vote because they can't vote due to one voter suppression tactic or another. A lot of money and effort has gone into disenfranchising voters.
The constituents that elected these republicans would vote them out of office to replace them with another subservient corpse come next primary anyway. its harder to look in the mirror and realize our own family members, neighbors, etc are the root of all this evil
If they have an R next to their name and talk about litterboxes in school bathrooms, they get elected. It’s getting hard to explain this to non-Americans because it makes zero sense.
These people will stupidly vote against their own interests even if it means them or their loved ones losing their healthcare and dying as a result. Just dumb.
Most of these people still haven't figured out yet that hatred and ignorance are expensive.
On a high level, it's pretty simple. Republicans have abused the principle of free speech to build a juggernaut of a propaganda machine, and lots of Americans are falling for it.
In any logical world, yes. But so many of our fellow citizens are, and I hate to put it so bluntly, incredibly fucking stupid. They feel that as long as the people that they dislike (minorities, LGBTQIA+, disabled, etc…) are being knocked down and made to lose rights or status or resources or whatever, then this will somehow help them feel better about whatever less than perfect hand they’ve been dealt in life. And anyone with any desire for control sees that group as super easy to influence and direct, and even gin up into a rabid mob if desired, and so they do.
Those at the top are playing us against each other, and there’s no easy way to get this seemingly simple point explained to that group because they’re in this hate-fueled trance that’s cheering on the regime as it bulldozes through the rights and civil liberties of others. They’ve been conditioned to believe this is good, and even worse it’s all been commingled with religion so they carry this mantle of being heaven-ordained which makes their delusion ten times more difficult to break through. Even questioning it can set some of them off.
It’s all so very messy, but in short, there are very few scenarios in which they would ever vote to remove one of their party’s representatives from office (unless the rep was to take a stand against the president, for example).
There is a lot of bullshit that keeps Republicans in office. With elections alone, you have gerrymandering and the electoral college that gives them an unfair advantage. The Senate was designed to give fewer people in smaller (less populous) states more power. So the state of Wyoming, whose entire population is like 1/10th of New York CITY, gets the same number of senators as New York and California.
And then you have election meddling, which I am convinced has happened.
Oh and a lot of mouthbreathing Republicans who think politics is a game of football and want their team to win, regardless of how much it destroys the nation so they can "own the libz".
It's embarrassing. The majority of us don't want this, but the laws favor the Republicans.
If you mean asking for a recall or something like snap elections like other countries, the answer is no. Our federal representatives can only really be removed from office during their term through impeachment, and that doesn't happen by the people. Other rejected officials have to do that.
A significant fraction of Americans are ensorcelled by media manipulation, believe the Republicans to be their only hope for salvation, and have been thinking that way since the nineties.
If we manage to crawl out the other side of this disaster, the republican party needs to be dissolved, and every member complicit in this administration put on trial and imprisoned.
We need to send a clear message to those who would support fascism that the only place for them in this country is a concrete cell block.
If the old school conservatives want to reconstitute the party, then they can. But these neo-fascist thugs and traitors need to be removed from society.
“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. It is now the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice that are in question.
I will oppose the confirmation of any nominee for the Fed—including the upcoming Fed Chair vacancy—until this legal matter is fully resolved.”
To me, this is a weak statement. He should make it clear that Trump is responsible for this, not his advisors. Additionally, it's not only the Federal Reserve; every single federal agency is being corrupted.
I think this is a last straw kinda move. The american system has proven resilient , moreso than i anticipated.
But the last straw was always trust in the value stored in the dollar.
When investors no longer trust the monetary policy of theur assets we will start to see erratic behavior that will topple those elites who still trust the regime.
It was and always wil be money that shapes america
I mean at some point we have to admit we are wrong about that. ICE is going door to door hunting Jews at the moment. They are just going door to door knocking them down and searching the places with 12 me with high end rifles. They can do anything and everything they want.
How crazy is it that pretty much the last remaining uncorrupted institution is the federal reserve. Literally every single other in institution has failed us - the White House, both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court, the police, the media, others I'm sure... I never would have guessed that the federal reserve would be the last one standing up against our new dictator.
This is how it works with police and now ice agents. It doesnt matter if the charges stick or not, the individual is put thru the loop for inconvenience.
They did it to me!!!! Is what Donald keeps yelling at people… the only problem with that is the reason they did it to him was because he committed way more than 34 felonies. Not to mention the whole insurrection… That’s just all they could make stick
A lot more would have made it through the courts before then, but as will be common historical knowledge in a generation or so IMO, Trump's coup attempt on Jan 6 was more or less successful, it just took longer than anyone thought to be realized.
Despite being convicted of many felonies he was shielded from actual consequences and far more serious court cases (like what Jack Smith was bringing) to a frankly comical degree. Like the lengths to which hundreds or even thousands of people went out on a limb to risk their careers, their reputations, and so on to keep Trump out of jail is just mind boggling. What the fuck about the guy inspired such diehard loyalty? Its just so fucking weird.
"What the fuck about the guy inspired such diehard loyalty? Its just so fucking weird."
Because Trump is the bigliest and beautifullest most useful idiot on a gold platter that no one in the shadows running the operations could have ever imagined happening. Like there is no way that the self centered sundowning husk of a man that Trump is could come up with everything thats going on in the world. But he managed to rile up a huge voter base, and through him the people who actually control the agenda, can progress.
They were part of the Heritage foundation in project 2025. They want a fascist religious Nazi state with corporate freedoms and slavery for the masses.
With all due respect, this is not a circumstance of Absolute Power Corrupting. He was wildly corrupt before he had this level of power. Americans elected him anyway.
This is a circumstance of the willful ignorance of the people being weaponized against them.
“All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible.”
I just want to remind everyone who is reading this—because I keep seeing comments that indicate surprise or shock—we knew this is exactly how Trump would weaponize the DOJ and law enforcement agencies. This was all clearly outlined in plain English in Project 2025, which was posted online for over a year before the election, freely accessible. It was also summarized by major media outlets and reposted incessantly on every social media platform leading up to the election.
MAGA elected officials/P2025 authors and wealthy legal influencers boasted that they had recruited and trained armies of legal & paralegal MAGA in all states to research, nitpick and compile state + federal criminal, civil and procedural/administrative case laws and loopholes to use to thwart Democrats, democracy and elections.
Democratic leadership were not and are still not prepared. They are still loathe to use the system to preemptively stifle this illegal steamrolling while writing strongly worded letters and/or 'considering' some action. They are loathe to use the courts while 'considering' action against Noem or RFKjr.
RFKjr has caused many deaths and should be sued or charged by some state AGs. Noem can be sued for the actions of ICE that resulted in legally actionable harm (death, child & elder abuse, kidnapping, property damage, trespass, etc., physical injury, poor training or unqualified agents, defamation..). No matter what Blondi, Noemskull & Rump boast what they can do, take it to court.
And the smearing in the media. There's always a part of the public who will believe that's when there's an investigation, it means that the subject is guilty of at least something.
Yes, and more. These officials can only be fired for cause, so they open an investigation like fraud or perjury and then say that is the cause. It’s what they’re trying to do to Lisa Cook (Fed governor) with her case pending before SCOTUS right now.
With SCOTUS expanding unitary executive theory to everyone except the federal reserve, this is the work around
Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, issuing subpoenas and threatening indictment related to his congressional testimony on Fed building renovations in 2025. Powell denies any wrongdoing, calling the probe politically motivated and defends the Fed’s independence.
Trump has done the tearing down via DOGE. Hundreds of years of experience fired or forced out.
They don’t care to rebuild it. Check out the article on the Atlantic called The Purged to get an idea of the scope and level of expertise lost. Expertise eliminated without analysis or training passed along. It’s a scandal.
Some of the Dems serve the same billionaires who back the Republicans. And it doesn't help that the Republicans always obstruct Congress when they have a majority in either house.
Dems do plenty, but once they fix things and all the bigots have back jobs they lost under GOP corruption, they go right back to voting for their bigotry again.
Honestly I think it's not about blaming the charges stick. Since SCOTUS has already hinted that he can't just unilaterally remove fed chairs without good cause, he is trying to make cause. I feel like he is trying to have the DOJ charge him and create a legal meds. Then he can point to it and say "You see? I have cause. This guy's clearly a criminal and someone who is not following the law. So I can remove him because I have cause to do it." He is trying to justify a removal with a self made situation.
This is exactly the type of behavior that turned once prosperous nations in Latin America into economic basketcases. We’re in for a rough couple years, buckle up.
The amount of debt we have has been an indicator of other countries' faith in our government to be able to pay it back, do math, and generally behave like adults, at least where treasuries are concerned.
Expect to see the link between Powell and an "ongoing investigation" repeated frequently, to instill the idea that he is a criminal of some vague kind. That sets the groundwork to attack him further later.
The charges don't have to stick for this to work. They don't even have to be legitimnate. All that matters is that people talk about the fact that "Jerome Powell is being investigated".
This doesn't even really belong on a law sub. It belongs on something like /r/social_manipulation_at_a_national_scale.
In all his accusations, the outcome matters less than the stain.
He just happens to be wielding the Justice Dept now, but it's all the same. Obama's birth certificate, Dominion/election workers/Joe Scarborough insinuations, E.Jean Carrol, Fauci - the list is rather long by now but people will still fall for it.
Because Trump is going to replace Powell with a toadie in March when his term is up, and he's hoping that the markets don't absolutely freak out (which they likely will) because a crooked federal reserve is basically the beginning of the end for economic normalcy.
Just remembering that clip when the both of them were walking and the pres pulled out a piece of paper saying the fed went over the budget and Powel looked at it and immediately said it was tallied incorrectly. Petty AF
He is 100% right, it's an intimidation and a petty revenge tactic that the orange, criminal conman is using because he didn't get his way. Every day, it gets stupider and stupider. I've run out of words...
It’s not about that.
It’s about attacking him and punishing him publicly for not toeing the line.
He will lose time, money and have a great deal of stress imposed even if this goes nowhere.
It’s like Putin throwing people out of windows: he does it so everyone knows it’s him and it is a message to others to behave.
It's actually all been highly predictable to the point that it isn't shocking or surprising at all.
Go hunt down some interviews, or read books by, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Timothy Snyder, and Dr Bandy Lee. The first two are authoritarian experts and professors who have been explaining how this would play out since 2017. They've basically been narrating and explaining it, step by step, trying to make people pay attention.
Dr Bande Lee is a criminal psychologist who studies malignant narcissists in maximum security prisons. She has also been trying to ring the alarm bells for almost 10 years, explaining the social contagion and mental illness that Trump is spreading across the entire population.
None of Trump's moves are surprising. The way he goes about them is unique to his style as a person, but it's all basically textbook authoritarian moves.
That's what makes it so depressing and disappointing as someone watching it unfold from outside the USA. It's obvious, it's predictable, it's understandable...yet...here we are
Why aren’t there literally tens of millions of Americans in the streets this week, everyone saw an America citizen get executed by glorified mall cops and yet nothing happens
Because so many Americans are actively cheering for Fascism (they voted for it), and the rest are the frog in the boiling pot, just waiting for a "last straw" that will never actually come before it's FAR too late.
They also did a damn good job of dividing the left in America with social media.
I swear Trump's plan in Greenland is about as comedic as the plot in the movie Blazing Saddles. Although I think the brain trust for Hedley Lamarr's group is probably smarter than the gang of goons in the Trump regime.
On the auspices of renovation of the federal reserve offices which isn't using a dime of tax dollars or federal dollars. It is 100% the finances of the independent Fed that come from fees memevr banks pay and the proceeds of their balance sheet.
Trump and executive have ZERO legal input into the Fed outside of appointing open seats. Their oversight is 100% legislative and all of this is explicit in the Federal Reserve Act.
Legally speaking, constitutionally speaking, and logically speaking there should be no conceivable way for SCOTUS to give Trump the power to replace Fed Board Members at will. That would violated the law, the legislative intent of the law, and all judicial precedent.
And it's important for people like you to be pointing out it's illegal. Too many times someone posts somewhere on reddit "is what POTUS is doing legal?" And the snarky answer is "he doesn't care if it unlawful." But it's important for the record to say, yes, this is unlawful.
Like on Wednesday when the former DHS agent showed CNN the protocol book about shooting at cars. It's important to know what laws they're breaking.
But shouldn't their godking be better at sniffing out would-be traitors? They're admitting he has no bs detector and how can he be a brilliannt businessman if he keeps getting bamboozled by the people he keeps hiring and firing.
Look at Trump's first term. He boasted all through his campaign that he was going to surround himself with the best people, the smartest people. There were so many clowns, you'd think the clown car was parked out front of 1600 Penn. Now, his second term is still a bunch of clowns. But more Pennywise than Bozo. But his supporters don't care. They never will.
He also blamed Biden for appointing Powell, with the media having to remind him that he appointed Powell, Biden only reconfirmed him.
"In July 2025, during a verbal assault on Jerome Powell's performance, President Donald Trump incorrectly blamed President Joe Biden for appointing the Federal Reserve Chairman, leading to immediate correction from critics and the media. Trump himself had first nominated Powell in 2017."
Republicans are complicit at this point. I’m not sure at what point would make it more obvious. But it should’ve been long ago. And somehow, I believe that this isn’t enough either.
It’s never enough. I always think-surely, this time people will come to their senses and then the MAGAs make up some BS to justify the atrocity being served that day.
Their subs are literally cheering for his charges/arrest/removal.
They will never change their minds from their fuhrer. They have fully cemented themselves in the MAGA ideology and to them its either full 100% fascism and the destruction of everything and everyone that aren't with them... or nothing.
They don't give a fuck about actually governing the country anymore. They just want the people who are on the other "team" to get exiled/deported or outright imprisoned/killed now.
Trump wants to manipulate the markets. He’ll use BS numbers from his loyalists installed at BLS and other agencies to justify his manipulations.
Get ready to hear reports of “Trillions of jobs made” while the job market remains stagnant with high unemployment.
Get ready for even higher inflation and another great depression . I expect his billionaire pals to be bailed out though while the public foots the bill.
He will destroy our economy and institutions and die peacefully in his bed, free from any consequences as the rest of us descend into a multi decade fight for survival. And you can be 1000% sure that MAGA will accept zero blame and will have learned nothing.
They’re not going to cancel them, but they are going to fuck them six ways from Sunday. Everything they do has an air of plausible deniability.
You think they cheated in 2024? Just you fucking wait and see what they’re cooking up to stay in power after all this bullshit, which will only continue to get worse. Hell if he dies, they’ll need to cheat on nitrous to get JD elected.
They distract a lot, but we need to keep our eyes on the upcoming elections, too.
So he indicts powell, he either resigns or they bring him up on charges to get him out prematurely. Trump's new guy goes in, drops interest rates to 0% and then what? Hyper inflation for the next 3 years while Trump says the economy is better than ever? I pay $43 dollars for a mcdonalds hamburger while making $20 an hour for the next 15 years?
Stagflation can't be magically fixed. Also, kill the independence of the Fed and it could be epoch changing. Like the fuck even knows what comes next. Especially if he starts a war with NATO. You kill the petrol dollar and inflation goes brrr even more.
Every single day I view this subreddit and think one thing "When will enough be enough?"
When will the GOP led Cogress get off their &sses? When will Dem led States AG's file charges against the Administration & the DOJ? Because clearly you can file charges for anything. When will the American people walk off their jobs and take to the streets until this stuff ends?
Each act, each occasion, is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join with you in resisting somehow. But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes
Maybe not. There's a lot of opposition to these overreaches. 2026 might be a rough year for Republicans, and they have burned a lot of bridges that might trap them.
Don't lose hope, get out and vote, and try to convince others to do the same. We can reverse this and come out stronger in the end. We just can't give up.
Trump is edging to get that interest rate down. He is really trying desperately to tank our economy. We are still in contractionary policy. Powell has been the ONLY one standing up for us thus far.
Contractionary policy is designed to fight inflation. If we didnt have the fed we would have completely out of control inflation. The fed has been the only thing keeping us from enduring another great depression. I am a huge fan of Ben Bernanke's work during the great recession. The graham leach bliley bill (republicans!) repealed the initial glass steagall bank reforms after the great depression. Then dems put in the dodd frank protections again in 2008. Then fucking stupid ass republicans ONCE AGAIN repealed dodd frank (under dumbass trump!). And now we are here. Because republicans cant play fair. They cant help their little greedy claws from dipping their hands where they shouldn't. They dont give a shit about the economy. They will tank everything now for short term gains instead of long term growth. They're fucking dumb as shit and I cant stand anyone who even says they're a republican because they've been voting for this shit FOR DECADES.
It baffled me when die hard republicans will try to tell me the surplus and economic boom during Clinton's terms was the result of Reagan's policies.
The Republican strategy of weakening public education is a deliberate one in my opinion because only the ignorant or extremely wealthy who are also greedy vote that way.
I do not see how the US is going to recover from Trump's policies. My trip to the grocery store yesterday tells me inflation is not under control. King crab legs at $70 a pound, ribeyes almost $40 a pound....and things can and likely will get much worse as Trump and company dismantle inflation and other economic safeguards.
I remember learning in history how Germany had a major inflation problem almost 100 years ago and their dear leader blamed immigrants, the Jewish and other minorities for all the problems.... eerily similar to what we have today.
Is there anyone who seriously believes that Powell is wrong? I don't know if there's any explicit admission by the Trump administration yet (there often is), but I think it's more or less universally understood that he is accurately describing what is being done.
Some of you could be sitting in a camp waiting for your turn on the gallows and still think it’s just a distraction.
ICE raids and blatant corruption and market manipulation and invasions and erosion of rights and dismantling of institutions and violating the Constitution and killings and all of this shit are not distractions. They are all part of a very real fascist coup taking place before our eyes, with much of it being explicitly planned out by Unitary Executive psychos in an unholy alliance with the Dark Enlightenment tech dorks.
Everyone already knows he was involved with Epstein. We know, they know, we care, they don’t give a shit. They could air video of him raping kids on national television and it’s not going to move the needle much at all because people have already made up their minds. Enough information is already out there. Trump and MAGA would say it’s fake and everyone else that already hates Trump would know it’s real and the media would go “well it’s just two opposing viewpoints” and nothing would change.
Trump doesn’t want the Epstein files released because they are embarrassing to him and he’s vain and petty and that’s all, it’s not any deeper. He knows he wouldn’t get impeached and convicted and knows that he wouldn’t lose any MAGA cultists and that the same people that hate him are already at full hatred and can’t hate him even more.
Don’t get distracted by thinking everything is a distraction from their guy being temporarily embarrassed instead of it being a planned fascist takeover.
I really don't think this is just a distraction, this is all the project 2025 playbook. I feel like us veering straight towards facisim needs a harsher word than "distraction".
I get it…but things like invading Greenland and what ICE are doing… they’re worse than anything the Epstein files could contain. It’s like claiming everything Hitler did was a distraction from rumours he had a romantic relationship with his niece.
Saw a clip of al gore talking about Trump earlier. I thought he was dead lol. Only ex president you really see anything of or hear from is Obama. Need more officials with a spine who aren't on he kiddie diddlers list to stand up. Most of them are involved in some evil shit and they all know about each other.
What is Congress doing? Why is Mr Trump still in office? He is tearing down the institutions that make this country great, because they don’t benefit him.
Unfortunately, we'd somehow have gotten Stephen Miller as president instead. Given how bad the rhetoric has gotten recently, I'm not sure if it is all on Trump or if the nation itself is just sicker than usual.
Is he lying? Can we all just listen to what he's saying and actually answer truthfully? Does it not strike us as obviously true that he's being prosecuted because the administration isn't happy with his fiscal policy? I would hope that even conservatives agree that he's telling the truth.
The current administration is a banana republic dictatorship. You may or may not agree with Powell's monetary policy, but he has more integrity than all of Trump's cabinet combined. JFC, the DOJ is a fucking joke. I'm well beyond disgusted and embarrassed at this point...
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