Justice Department asks Judge Boasberg to reconsider order quashing Powell subpoenas

Lawyers for the Trump administration on Monday asked U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to reconsider his order that quashed grand jury subpoenas of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, appearing to make good on a vow from U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro to appeal the order to a higher court.

In the Justice Department's motion for reconsideration that was submitted Monday, prosecutors argued that the court "applied an incorrect legal standard, erred with respect to certain facts, and overlooked other relevant facts." 

They argued that a subpoena should be allowed when there is even a "reasonable possibility" that the category of materials the government seeks will produce information "relevant to the general subject of the grand jury's investigation," and even where a subpoena recipient "proposes a plausible theory of an ulterior motive."

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The filing, submitted Monday, comes two days after Boasberg blocked a pair of grand jury subpoenas issued to the Federal Reserve Board, concluding that they were merely a "pretext" to pressure the Fed's Powell into lowering interest rates or resigning from the head of the nation's central bank. 

The Federal Reserve Board, DOJ argued Monday, has "never disputed that the subpoenas sought only materials directly related to the subjects of the grand jury's investigation: the over budget renovations - estimated at over $1 billion, outrageous even by D.C. standards - as well as Chair Powell's congressional testimony." 

The request comes days after Boasberg issued a ruling blocking Pirro's office from moving ahead with a subpoena of records and testimony related to the investigation of the central bank. He said in the newly unsealed ruling that the Justice Department offered "no evidence whatsoever" that Powell committed any crime "other than displeasing" Trump. 

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"Did prosecutors issue those subpoenas for a proper purpose? The Court finds that they did not," he said. "There is abundant evidence that the subpoenas' dominant (if not sole) purpose is to harass and pressure Powell either to yield to the President or to resign and make way for a Fed Chair who will."

The ruling came after Pirro opened a criminal inquiry into Powell's June 2025 testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in January, centered on the Fed's years-long renovation of its headquarters in Washington, D.C. 

Powell revealed the investigation publicly in January, which he described as an attack on the Fed's independence. 

Pirro said Friday that the Justice Department would appeal the ruling to a higher court, blasting the order as "outrageous."

"This process has been arbitrarily undermined by an activist judge," she said at a news conference Friday, arguing that Boasberg "put himself at the entrance door to the grand jury, slamming that door shut - irrespective of the legal process - and thus preventing the grand jury from doing the work that it does."

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Any appeal could prolong Trump's efforts to remove Powell from the Fed and replace him with his pick - former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh - as Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. remarked on social media Friday.

Trump also took aim at Boasberg on Truth Social on Sunday night, accusing him of suffering "from the highest level of Trump Derangement Syndrome" and someone the president claimed "has been 'after' my people, and me, for years."

Boasberg used last week's order to tick through many of Trump's social media posts blasting Powell and unsuccessfully pressuring him to lower interest rates before suggesting that someone else should replace him to head up the Fed.

"Being perceived as the president's adversary has become risky in recent years," Boasberg said in the ruling. 

"In his second term, Trump has urged the Department of Justice to prosecute such people, and the Department's prosecutors have listened," he added.