A top deputy to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, has admitted that the government lacked evidence in its probe of one of Trump’s perceived political enemies.
Pirro’s office opened a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in January, after President Trump claimed that there was “criminality” in Powell’s testimony to Congress about the scope of the $2.5 billion renovation project at the Fed’s headquarters.
U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg quashed the subpoenas into the Fed last week, ruling that the probe showed signs that Pirro—a former Fox News host nicknamed “Judge Jeanine”—was motivated to launch the investigation into Powell due to Trump’s desire to fire the Fed chair to cut interest rates.
Now what happened in to closed-door hearing has leaked. The Washington Post reported that Pirro’s deputy, G.A. Massucco-LaTaif, told Judge James Bosaberg that the office does ”not know at this time” what evidence there is of fraud or criminal misconduct, the
“There are 1.2 billion reasons for us to look into it,” Massucco-LaTaif told Boasberg.
When asked further by Boasberg, Massucco-LaTaif said, “we don’t know” which of Powell’s statements was false.
“There are certain areas that he addressed that caused concern,” he said.
In his ruling, Boasberg contended that prosecutors had provided “essentially zero evidence” of a crime. He noted that prosecutors also did not show him evidence in private without attorneys for the Fed being present, even when he said they could.
“Indeed, most members of the Committee that Powell testified before — including a majority of each party’s members, as well as the Committee’s Chair — have said that they do not think he committed any crime,” the judge wrote.
While subpoenas are presumed to be legal on the grounds that they are seeking information related to an ongoing grand jury investigation, federal appellate courts have previously ruled that subpoenas may be quashed if their sole purpose is to harass or intimidate.
The Daily Beast reached out to Pirro’s office for comment.
The Fed has maintained that there is nothing criminal about the renovations.
“While the Board is working diligently to manage the significant costs that come with renovating historic buildings, the Federal Reserve has explained that over the seven years of this project there have been increases in building costs, increases in labor costs, problems with asbestos contamination, and other elements that have contributed to these overruns,” the Fed attorneys said in a legal filing.
“Nothing about cost overruns for such a project is unusual or indicative of criminal activity,” they added.
When the ruling against the subpoenas came down earlier this month, Pirro had a public freak-out at a press conference that was supposed to be focused on her office’s failed investigation into Powell. She called the ruling “outrageous” and “the antithesis of American justice” and vowed to appeal it.
The media event, held after lunchtime on a Friday, quickly went off the rails, however, as an animated Pirro started lashing out at reporters.
She screamed at one reporter, repeatedly yelling “cut it out” before going on an angry rant.
“Oh cut it out, do you know how many convictions we’ve—cut it out!,” she yelled. “You’re in one lane!”
“I’m willing to take a not guilty. I’m willing to take a no true bill. Because I’ll take all the crimes and put them in,” she asserted. “Thank you!”
Pirro then spent time at Mar-a-Lago at the weekend with Trump, who is a convicted felon.
