A newspaper owned by arch-conservative media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has called for the MAGA administration to ax the Justice Department goons responsible for bringing legal action against a top banking official.
“In the annals of political lawfare there’s dumb, and then there’s the criminal subpoena federal prosecutors delivered Friday to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell,” The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board wrote in a scathing editorial Monday. “President Trump would do himself and the country a big favor by firing those responsible for this fiasco.”
President Donald Trump has consistently railed against Powell as “clueless” and an “enemy” since taking office for the second time last January. Powell, whom the MAGA leader himself appointed in 2017, has riled the president by refusing to follow instructions from the executive, in particular Trump’s insistence on lower interest rates.
Friday’s subpoena seeks information from Powell related to his Congressional testimony last June regarding renovations to the Federal Reserve’s office in D.C., which MAGA says have run over budget.
“Fair enough,” the Journal wrote, “although this is hardly the first government building project to cost more than advertised, and the Fed funds it from the central bank’s own resources rather than sapping tax revenue from Treasury.”
Noting that the MAGA leader has claimed no foreknowledge of the subpoena, the newspaper’s editors chalk the recent action against Powell up to the willingness of Trump’s underlings to “curry favor with the President by doing what they think he would want.”
Sources reportedly told the paper that a report on the renovations was prepared by Bill Pulte, an official with the Federal Housing Finance Agency who’s drawn fire in the past for what critics describe as weaponized mortgage fraud investigations into Trump’s political enemies.
Pulte allegedly passed that report to Jeanine Pirro, a Fox News personality whom Trump appointed U.S. attorney for D.C. last year, whose office in turn filed the subpoena against Powell. “Attorney General Pam Bondi no doubt signed off,” the Journal’s editors added.
Trump’s “saner advisers are worried that Wall Street will view this as an attack on the Fed’s institutional independence, which it is,” the editorial board wrote, adding that “this ploy may backfire” spectacularly on MAGA’s plans for the Federal Reserve.
“Mr Powell’s term as chairman ends in May, but his seat on the Board of Governors doesn’t expire until 2028,” the editors wrote. “Mr. Powell isn’t required to leave the Fed when his chairmanship ends, and Mr. Powell may now feel he needs to stay to avoid the appearance that the White House can bully Fed officials. That would deny Mr. Trump a second appointment to the Fed Board.”
The newspaper stopped short of calling for Trump to ax either Bondi or Pirro, but suggested “a message to Ms Bondi to halt the legal harassment” would go a long way, as would “firing Mr. Pulte before he can cause any more embarrassment.”
It also warned Trump that warring with federal officials over matters most voters will regard as arcane and of little consequence to everyday life likely does not represent a winning strategy ahead of this year’s crucial midterm elections.
“Picking a fight with the Fed—and the bond market—over an issue that voters will find confusing and irrelevant is lawfare for dummies,” the editors concluded.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and Justice Department for comment on this story.
