The Senate’s banking and judiciary committees’ top Democratic members have set a Feb. 3 deadline for a response to what they call a “serious misuse of power” by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).
Letters were sent Tuesday to FHFA Director Bill Pulte and Attorney General Pam Bondi, related to the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The senators claim the Powell probe is “part of the Trump Administration’s broader effort to weaponize the federal government and control the Fed.”
The letters, signed by senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Dick Durbin of Illinois, demanded that Pulte and Bondi preserve all documents, communications and materials related to any criminal investigation into Powell.
The senators wrote the investigation appears to be “yet another action in a series of President Trump’s unlawful efforts to seize control of the Federal Reserve by any means necessary.”
Powell and the Federal Reserve were served with grand jury subpoenas on Jan. 9 by the DOJ, posing the threat of a criminal indictment over Senate Banking Committee testimony given by Powell in June regarding a renovation of the Fed’s historic headquarters.
The Fed chairman, who had previously been reserved in his responses to the administration, released a brief video statement after the subpoena, alleging that he and the Fed were being targeted as “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.”
Warren and Durbin’s letters point to not only Powell but also Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, who has also been subject to a DOJ criminal investigation for alleged mortgage fraud. President Donald Trump tried to fire her from her position, leading to a legal battle that was escalated to the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
“The Trump Administration’s apparent efforts to seize control of the Fed by criminally investigating its Chair and its board members when they fail to acquiesce to the President are dangerous, authoritarian, and unprecedented,” they stated. “DOJ’s involvement in these activities represents a noxious and corrupt perversion of the Department’s mission of impartially upholding the rule of law.”
Warren and Durbin requested the DOJ and FHFA provide to their committees:
- All documents, communications and materials related to any criminal investigation into Powell or Cook
- Records generated by FHFA officials, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or DOJ officials related to those investigations
- A detailed account of communications between FHFA, DOJ and other federal officials — including the White House and the Treasury Department — regarding Powell, Cook, Federal Reserve building renovations or interest rate decisions
Asked for a response to the letter sent to Pulte, an FHFA spokesperson told Scotsman Guide: “Director Pulte is focused on restoring the American Dream after 4 years of Biden’s inflation, which destroyed the housing market. The DOJ is outside of Director Pulte’s purview, so we would refer you to the DOJ.”
The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
