The Daily Fuckup

Two prosecutors and an investigator from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office showed up April 14 at the Federal Reserve’s headquarters renovation site and were not allowed in. According to contemporaneous reporting, they asked for a tour and to check on the progress of the project, then were told they needed prior clearance before any access could be granted. The episode landed in the middle of an already heated investigation into the Fed’s renovation work and into Chair Jerome Powell himself. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/16f1777a974cf0dece60d78abe4eb973?utm_source=openai))

The Fed’s outside counsel, Robert K. Hur, responded in writing after the visit. In that letter, Hur pointed to Judge James Boasberg’s March 13 ruling quashing subpoenas in the case and argued that the new approach ran into the same concern the court had already flagged: the investigation appeared to be aimed at pressuring Powell, not just gathering facts. That court order dealt with subpoenas, not the site visit itself, but it remains the key judicial backdrop to the fight over how far prosecutors can go. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/0fdd36447a6aa8ae3e7125930d03950f?utm_source=openai))

The practical result is simple: prosecutors tried to get into a sensitive federal construction site, the Fed stalled the request, and the bank’s lawyer immediately tied the encounter to an earlier court rebuke of the probe. The larger political fight over Powell and the renovation project is still playing out, but the April 14 visit made clear that the Justice Department has not backed off. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/16f1777a974cf0dece60d78abe4eb973?utm_source=openai))