Jerome Powell, 16th Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, during a moderated conversation at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, Monday March 30, 2026.
Mel Musto | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Justice Department will not reopen its criminal investigation into former Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell over the central bank’s headquarters renovation that went billions of dollars over budget, a department spokesperson told CNBC.
“We will not reopen a criminal investigation against him,” Blanche told Bloomberg in an interview Friday.
Blanche did not rule out future action by the Justice Department in her interview. He told the outlet that an independent audit of the renovation could lead to an investigation if it uncovers evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
His comments come days after the Federal Reserve’s inspector general found no reasonable reason to believe a federal crime had occurred requiring a referral to the attorney general, even as the watchdog blamed the central bank for major management and oversight failures that contributed to the project’s soaring costs.
President Donald Trump criticized the decision, said in a Truth Social article Wednesday after the news, saying Powell should be “forced to resign” from the central bank’s Board of Governors “at a minimum.”
“He can’t run a building, and he certainly shouldn’t be allowed to run his high interest rate policies (only on ‘TRUMP!’),” Trump said.
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