by
Chip
Somodevilla/Getty
Images)
Federal
Reserve
Chair
Jerome
Powell
released
a
highly
unusual
weekend
video
message
to
announce
that
the
Department
of
Justice
served
the
nation’s
central
bank
with
grand
jury
subpoenas,
signaling
a
criminal
investigation
targeting
the
Fed
and
specifically
Powell.
It’s
the
sort
of
response
one
would
expect
from
a
national
leader
responding
to
an
unprovoked
attack
by
a
rogue
state,
which
—
under
the
circumstances
—
might
be
the
appropriate
aesthetic
for
the
moment.
Powell’s
statement
explains
that
the
DOJ
is
probing
Powell’s
June
testimony
to
the
Senate
Banking
Committee,
covering
cost-overruns
in
the
renovation
of
Federal
Reserve
buildings.
Blasting
the
cost
of
the
Fed
renovations
has
taken
on
totemic
power
among
Trump
and
his
allies
as
they
search
for
a
reason
to
punish
the
central
bank
for
refusing
to
slash
interest
rates
given
the
country’s
dodgy
economic
outlook.
A
spokesperson
for
Attorney
General
Pam
Bondi
said
the
department
wants
to
“prioritize
investigating
any
abuse
of
taxpayer
dollars.”
The
Director
of
the
FBI
is
using
a
taxpayer
jet
for
date
nights
and
Kristi
Noem
dropped
$200
million
on
private
jets
during
the
shutdown.
Abuse
of
taxpayer
dollars?
Girl,
the
call
is
coming
from
inside
the
house.
For
what
it’s
worth,
the
Fed’s
expensive
renovation
is
due
in
part
to
the
Trump
administration’s
demand
that
they
junk
the
original,
modern
design
plans
to
match
Trump’s
preferred
Saddam-Hussein-palace
aesthetic.
On
top
of
that,
the
Fed
had
to
deal
with
heavy
cost
spikes
in
raw
materials
because
some
idiot
jacked
up
tariffs
on
construction
materials.
By
complying
with
Trump’s
first
term
design
demands,
Powell’s
now
facing
possible
criminal
charges
from
Trump’s
second
term.
It’s
technically
an
unprecedented
development,
but
completely
unsurprising
from
a
guy
who
built
his
financial
empire
by
running
businesses
into
the
ground
and
leaving
everyone
else
holding
the
bag.
Powell’s
learning
what
all
those
USFL
owners
did
back
in
the
80s,
but
the
stakes
this
time
—
the
fate
of
the
global
economy
—
are
considerably
more
grave
than
allowing
the
NFL
to
become
the
unholy
monopoly
forcing
us
to
subscribe
to
every
streaming
service
so
we
can
wake
up
at
9
a.m.
to
watch
2-10
teams
play
in
Dusseldorf.
This
is
what
it
looks
like
when
the
Department
of
Justice
stops
even
pretending
it’s
a
law-enforcement
agency
and
just
becomes
the
President’s
personal
law
firm.
As
midterms
loom,
Trump
desperately
wants
an
interest
rate
cut
to
juice
the
stagflating
economy
and
his
Department
of
Justice
is
leveraging
the
criminal
justice
system
to
intimidate
the
Fed
to
make
the
change
over
its
best
judgment
by
turning
Groutgate
into
a
federal
crime.
Have
you
been
denied
cheap
money
just
because
economic
fundamentals
look
like
three
sticks
of
dynamite
attached
to
an
old-timey
alarm
clock?
You
may
be
entitled
to
compensation!
Call
Bondi
&
Blanche
LLP.
Trump,
naturally,
denied
any
knowledge
of
the
investigation
while
simultaneously
taking
the
opportunity
to
remind
everyone
that
Powell
is
“certainly
not
very
good
at
the
Fed”
and
“not
very
good
at
building
buildings.”
Trump’s
decision
to
demolish
the
East
Wing
and
put
in
the
world’s
most
hideous
ballroom
has
already
gone
100
percent
over
budget.
These
potential
charges
follow
Trump’s
prior
effort
to
fire
Fed
governor
Lisa
Cook.
That
move
now
sits
with
the
Supreme
Court,
whose
conservative
majority
is
trying
very
hard
to
create
a
“Federal
Reserve
exception”
to
its
broader
project
of
turning
independent
agencies
into
presidential
sock
puppets.
The
conservative
majority
wants
Trump
to
run
roughshod
over
the
administrative
state
right
up
until
it
nukes
their
own
retirement
funds.
They
hoped
to
drop
not-so-subtle
hints
to
stop
the
administration,
but
subtlety
isn’t
the
strong
suit
of
a
guy
with
a
gold-plated
toilet.
But
if
the
Supreme
Court
wants
to
pretend
it
can
protect
the
Fed
with
a
bespoke
exception
about
why
it’s
“unique,”
while
also
bulldozing
every
other
independent
agency,
it
should
be
prepared
for
the
obvious
response:
the
White
House
doesn’t
care.
If
they
won’t
let
Trump
fire
governors
at
will,
he’s
willing
to
use
the
DOJ
to
manufacture
bogus
criminal
charges
to
secure
the
“for
cause”
excuse
he
would
need
in
any
event.
Powell
continues:
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.
One
expert
speaking
with
CNBC
characterized
the
investigation
of
Powell
as
“the
Maduro
option,”
an
ominous
comparison
after
the
administration
used
a
federal
indictment
as
justification
for
killing
somewhere
between
40-80
people
to
depose
the
head
of
a
sovereign
nation.
Reportedly,
the
administration
hoped
to
use
the
threat
of
criminal
prosecution
to
convince
Maduro
to
walk
away.
Having
scored
a
big
win
following
that
playbook,
they
may
well
be
trying
to
implement
this
model
at
home.
By
drawing
monetary
policy
lessons
from
Sicario,
the
administration
hopes
to
make
every
governor
internalize
the
threat,
so
they
don’t
deliberate
based
on
inflation,
employment,
or
evidence,
but
based
on
what
will
keep
Pam
Bondi’s
DOJ
out
of
their
inbox.
Even
Republicans
recognize
this
real-time
erosion
of
the
rule
of
law.
Senator
Thom
Tillis,
who
is
retiring
and
therefore
allowed
to
drop
the
act
and
be
honest
—
says
he’ll
block
Fed
nominations
until
this
gets
resolved.
“It
is
now
the
independence
and
credibility
of
the
Department
of
Justice
that
are
in
question,”
Tillis
said,
even
though
it’s
been
“now”
for
a
year
at
this
point.
But
as
much
as
it’s
a
signal
to
the
Federal
Reserve,
it’s
also
a
signal
to
the
Supreme
Court.
Trump
isn’t
going
to
wait
to
find
out
if
Humphrey’s
Executor
survives
or
if
some
Drunk
History
about
the
Second
Bank
of
the
United
States
shields
the
Federal
Reserve.
This
administration
isn’t
interested
in
what
the
Court’s
going
to
decide
—
so
they
might
as
well
just
give
him
what
he
wants
anyway.
If
there
are
any
genuine
“institutionalists”
left
on
the
Court,
do
you
want
to
let
Trump
fire
Powell
at
will
or
do
you
want
to
force
him
to
drag
Powell
up
on
charges
first?
Is
that
a
predicament
that
might
convince
a
justice
to
just
give
in?
If
there’s
any
positive
from
Powell’s
announcement,
it’s
that
the
grand
jury
convened
by
the
DOJ
is
likely
centered
in
Washington
D.C.
and
citizens
of
the
capital
have
proven
repeatedly
that
they’re
willing
to
refuse
to
indict
a
garbage
charge
and
more
than
willing
to
reject
any
nonsense
that
does
reach
trial.
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter or
Bluesky
if
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interested
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Joe
also
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Managing
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