Dem
47
GOP
53
Late yesterday, U.S. Attorney for Washington, DC, Jeannine Pirro announced that her office was dropping its criminal probe of Fed Chair Jerome Powell. And so, yet another Donald Trump enemy will not so much as see the inside of a courtroom, despite the President's desire to the contrary.
There were two major issues with the Powell prosecution, one of the legal, one of them political. The legal problem was that Powell did not actually break the law. The "charge" against him was that the ongoing renovations of the buildings that house the Federal Reserve were very expensive, and exceeded the original budget, and so—hand wave, hand wave—Powell committed fraud. This administration loves, loves, loves to level that particular charge against anyone and everyone, but declaring fraud and actually proving fraud are two very different things. Perhaps most obviously, if a government project going over budget meant it was time to convict one or more federal officials of fraud, then the prisons would be jammed to the gills with former Washingtonians.
The political problem was that some (maybe many) Senate Republicans were not happy with the investigation and (threatened) prosecution, and at least one of them was in a position to do something about it. That would be Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who is not standing for reelection, but who IS sitting on the Senate Finance Committee, which means he gets a vote about whether or not to advance the nomination for Powell's replacement, Kevin Warsh, to the floor of the Senate. Tillis said he wouldn't do it as long as the Powell investigation was ongoing. And without his vote, there would not be enough votes in favor of supporting the nomination. It is certainly possible for the whole Senate to overrule the wishes of the Committee, but the other Republicans who were unhappy about the Powell situation weren't willing to do that. They might not want to defy Trump openly, at least not yet, but they are also not willing to bend over backwards, and to bend the upper chamber's rules, to accommodate his personal vendettas.
So, that is why Pirro threw in the towel. And naturally she did it on a Friday afternoon, so she could sneak it in under the radar as much as was possible. Like Acting AG Todd Blanche and a couple of other Trump insiders, she aspires to be the nominee to replace the departed Pam Bondi. Giving up on the Powell witch hunt won't help on that front, but perhaps helping Trump to save face by burying the story as much as is possible will compensate, at least a little.
Tillis already made clear that, once his demand was met, he would be willing to support Warsh's nomination. So, barring the unexpected, Warsh will be advanced to the floor of the Senate on a party-line vote, and then will be approved on a party-line vote, maybe with Sen. John Fetterman ("D"-PA) and a couple of other centrists crossing the aisle. Meanwhile, Powell said he would hold onto his seat (which he has until 2028, if he wants it) until the investigation was complete. Customarily, the Chair retires from the Fed when their time in the big chair is up, even if their term as governor is not over. Powell may well honor that tradition, especially since he's 73, has been on the Board for nearly 14 years, and has been Chair for 8. On the other hand, leaving would give Trump the opportunity to fill another seat, with another possible flunky. So, Powell might hold on, just to stop that from happening. At very least, he might remain in place until November, to see if the Senate is going to flip to the Democrats. We would guess that even he doesn't know 100% for certain what he'll do, at the moment. (Z)