Pirro drops Powell probe but vows to restart probe ‘should the facts warrant doing so’

The criminal investigation that has held the Federal Reserve chair nomination hostage for three months is over—sort of.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced Friday that her office is closing its probe into Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the central bank’s Washington headquarters renovation, punting the matter to the central bank’s inspector general.

“This morning the Inspector General for the Federal Reserve has been asked to scrutinize the building costs overruns – in the billions of dollars – that have been borne by taxpayers,” Pirro wrote on X. “The IG has the authority to hold the Federal Reserve accountable to American taxpayers.”

The decision could clear a major procedural hurdle for Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s pick to replace Powell when his term as chair expires May 15.

Sen. Thom Tillis, the North Carolina Republican who sits on the Senate Banking Committee, has vowed to block Warsh’s confirmation as long as the DOJ probe remained open, calling the investigation “weak” and “frivolous” and framing it as an assault on Fed independence. Republicans hold a 12-10 edge on the committee, which means Tillis’s single vote is enough to create an 11-11 deadlock and keep the nomination frozen.

Neither Tillis nor the Federal Reserve Board of Governors immediately responded to Fortune’s request for comment.

Pirro’s reversal is a surprise, and a sharp pivot. As recently as Wednesday, she told reporters she would “not back off,” and was preparing to appeal a ruling that quashed two of her subpoenas to the Fed. 

The probe centered on cost overruns for the renovation of two historic Fed buildings, which ballooned from $1.9 billion in 2023 to $2.5 billion in 2025. Powell, for his part, has said the investigation is a pressure tactic designed to force the Fed to cut interest rates faster than it believes is warranted.

Whether Pirro’s announcement resolves the underlying standoff is a different question. It could give Tillis enough to release his hold and move Warsh out of committee. But it does not obviously deliver what Trump’s other priority: Powell’s early exit from the Fed Board of Governors, a seat he is entitled to hold until 2028.

Powell has said that he won’t leave until the probe is “well and truly over,” a door which Pirro left conspicuously open. 

“Note well, however, that I will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so,” she wrote. 

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