Trump admin asks Boasberg to reconsider his Powell order

Trump administration lawyers on Monday asked U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to reconsider his order that quashed Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s grand jury subpoenas, appearing to honor D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s promise to appeal the order to a higher court.

In the Justice Department’s motion for reconsideration filed Monday, prosecutors argued that the court “applied an incorrect legal standard, erred on certain facts, and overlooked other relevant facts.”

They argued that a subpoena should be authorized when there is even a “reasonable possibility” that the category of records sought by the government will produce information “relevant to the general subject matter of the grand jury’s investigation,” and even when the recipient of the subpoena “proposes a plausible theory of an ulterior motive.”

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U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference following a meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee in Washington, October 29, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

The filing, submitted Monday, comes two days after Boasberg blocked two grand jury subpoenas to the Federal Reserve, concluding that they were just a “pretext” to pressure the Fed’s Powell to lower interest rates or resign as chairman of the nation’s central bank.

The Federal Reserve, the DOJ argued Monday, “never disputed that the subpoenas were aimed only at documents directly related to the subjects of the grand jury investigation: the over-budget renovations – estimated at more than $1 billion, outrageous even by Washington DC standards – as well as Chairman Powell’s testimony to Congress.”

The request comes days after Boasberg issued a ruling blocking Pirro’s office from moving forward with a subpoena for records and testimony related to the central bank’s investigation. He said in the newly unveiled ruling that the Justice Department provided “no evidence” that Powell committed any crime “other than displeasing” the president. Donald Trump.

“Did the prosecutors issue these subpoenas for a legitimate purpose? The Court concludes that they did not,” he said. “There is ample evidence that the primary (if not sole) purpose of the subpoenas is to harass and pressure Powell to either give in to the Chairman or resign and make way for a Fed Chairman who will.”

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Judge James E. Boasberg, chief judge of the Federal District Court in Washington, stands for a portrait. (Washington Post via Getty)

The decision came after D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro opened a criminal investigation into Powell’s June 2025 testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, centered on the renovation of his Fed headquarters in Washington, D.C. Powell publicly revealed the investigation in January, which he described as an attack on the Fed’s independence.

Pirro said Friday that the Justice Department would appeal the decision to a higher court, calling the order “scandalous.”

“This process was arbitrarily undermined by an activist judge,” she said. said at a press conference Friday, arguing that Boasberg “put himself at the grand jury’s front door, slamming that door — regardless of the legal process — and thereby preventing the grand jury from doing the work it does.”

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Any call could prolong Trump’s efforts to remove Powell from the Fed and replace him with his choice — former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh — as senator. Thomas TillisRN.C. remarked Friday on social media.