Staff Reports
The Department of Justice has quietly escalated a showdown with the Federal Reserve by opening a criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell over the multi‑year renovation of the central bank’s Washington headquarters, and grand jury subpoenas were reportedly served last Friday (Jan. 9, 2026). This is not a rumor from the fringe — respected outlets are reporting that the subpoenas target Powell’s testimony to Congress and the sprawling spending records tied to the project. Americans who pay taxes deserve straight answers about multibillion‑dollar projects, and no unelected official should be beyond scrutiny.
Officials say the inquiry was authorized months ago by newly empowered U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who took over the D.C. office last year and has signaled she intends to prioritize accountability. If true, that decision to press forward in November shows prosecutors did not act on a whim — they worked through procedures before serving subpoenas. Conservatives should cheer the rule of law when it reaches into places long shielded by bureaucracy and secrecy.
The numbers that have sparked outrage in congressional hearings and now in DOJ files are eye‑watering: officials and reporting put the renovation’s cost overruns in the billions, with widely reported estimates around $2.5 billion. That kind of sticker shock demands a paper trail and witnesses under oath, not hand‑waving from bureaucrats about “unique” projects. For hardworking Americans tightening household budgets, it’s offensive that taxpayer funds could be flushed into a renovation without clear, honest accounting.
Powell’s response has been to portray the subpoenas as political intimidation aimed at changing Fed policy — a familiar playbook from officials who prefer to dodge scrutiny. He claims the action is a “pretext” tied to disagreements over interest‑rate policy, which is exactly the kind of deflection you’d expect from a Washington insider. Whether the motive is politics or plain incompetence, the evidence and the records are what will matter in court — not who screams the loudest on cable news.
Let’s be clear: defending central‑bank independence does not mean defending waste, secrecy, or potential deception of Congress. The Attorney General has instructed U.S. attorneys to prioritize investigations into abuse of taxpayer dollars, and that prioritization is long overdue when the scale of the spending is this large. Conservatives who genuinely love limited, accountable government should stand for both strong monetary policy and brutal transparency where public money is concerned.
This story matters to every American because it speaks to who answers for power in Washington — the voters or the unaccountable elite. Congress should move to demand full disclosure, and the public should stay angry until we see receipts and sworn testimony explaining how billions were spent. If the institutions of the Republic are to survive, we must insist on accountability from the Fed as much as from any other agency; that’s what patriotism looks like in practice.
