Trump administration's Federal Reserve HQ probe escalates with unannounced site visit by prosecutors

Deputies from the United State's Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia (USADC) showed up earlier this week, unannounced, at the Federal Reserve's construction site in Washington, D.C., which is part of an investigation tied to congressional testimony from Chairman Jerome Powell.

After speaking with construction workers, two prosecutors from the USADC were reportedly turned away and told they could not be permitted access because they had not gotten preauthorized clearance, the Wall Street Journal first reported. They were then reportedly given the contact information of the appropriate Fed staff to reach out to.

The visit underscores U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro's view of the case the Trump administration launched in November against Powell. In January, the Trump administration's Department of Justice served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas amid an investigation into the Federal Reserve's multi-billion dollar D.C. headquarters renovation that began in November and is tied to whether Powell lied to Congress about the $2.5 billion renovation or failed to comply with the appropriate permitting rules.

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A Fed spokesperson did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's inquiry and it declined to comment when contacted by the WSJ.

"Any construction project that has cost overruns of almost 80% over the original construction budget deserves some serious review," Pirro said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "And these people are in charge of monetary policy in the United States?"

An outside attorney for the Federal Reserve, Robert Hur, reportedly objected to the visit in a letter to Pirro's office.

Hur, in his letter, pointed to U.S. District Judge James Boasberg's ruling last month that threw out the subpoenas in a 27-page ruling describing them as an effort to "harass and pressure Powell." Boasberg is an appointee of former President Barack Obama.

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Powell has been pressured by President Donald Trump to lower interest rates and to step down as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. His term as chair ends in May, but the probe also threatens President Trump's pick to replace him, Kevin Warsh.

Outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has said he would withhold his vote to confirm Warsh if the Fed investigation is not dropped.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., head of the Senate Banking Committee, proposed that Pirro's investigation would be completed in a few weeks during an interview with Fox News. However, when pressed on whether he knew for sure the investigation would end, Scott indicated he did not have any evidence of that.

President Trump, meanwhile, thanked Pirro and others for having "courage" to persevere in the investigation.

"We have a moron at the Fed. Who wouldn’t be lowering interest rates right now?" Trump said last month. "I want to thank Jeanine Pirro and Pam and her group for having the courage to bring this suit. And I believe that the contractor on that job is probably one of the richest men in the country right now. I believe that it’s not possible to spend that kind of money -- $3 billion, $4 billion -- nobody knows, nobody has any idea what it is. But it’s over $3 billion and it's probably going to be over $4 billion by the time they finish and it may never get finished, unless I take it over. I’ll get it finished. But it can never be what it was."