Federal Reserve turned to Biden special prosecutor in DOJ subpoena fight

By David Thomas

March 13 (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve Board tapped Robert Hur, a prominent former prosecutor who investigated former Democratic President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents, in its clash with the U.S. Justice Department over records related to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, court filings showed on Friday.

The filings were unsealed when a federal judge in Washington blocked subpoenas issued by the Justice Department in its criminal investigation into Powell’s handling of renovations of historic buildings used by the central bank. The government “offered no evidence whatsoever that Powell committed any crime other than displeasing the President,” the ruling said.

Republican President Donald Trump has pressured the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates and has lashed out at Powell for not doing so ​more quickly. Powell has called the Justice Department’s investigation a pretext.

Hur, a conservative, was appointed special counsel during Biden’s presidency to investigate his handling of classified documents found in his home and office. He declined to bring charges but drew criticism from Democrats for his assessment of Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory.”

Hur was appointed Maryland’s top federal prosecutor by Trump during his first administration. He is now a partner at law firm King & Spalding. Jeffrey Bucholtz, another partner at the firm, has represented the Federal Reserve Board in prior litigation and is also part of the team in the subpoena case.

Hur and Bucholtz did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors declined to comment.

Hur and King & Spalding also represent Harvard University in litigation against the Trump administration over the school’s federal funding and enrollment of foreign students. 

Powell, who is represented by attorneys from law firm Williams & Connolly, disclosed in January that the Justice Department was probing a project to renovate historic buildings at ​the Fed headquarters in Washington. The subpoenas sought information about the renovations and Powell’s July 2025 testimony before the Senate Banking Committee.

The Fed’s Board of Governors moved to quash the subpoenas, arguing in a Feb. 24 filing that their purpose was to “aid the president’s quest to seize for himself a power specifically denied to him by federal law.”

Chief ​U.S. District Judge James Boasberg sided with the Fed’s Board of Governors on Friday, saying there is a “mountain of evidence” ⁠suggesting that DOJ’s investigation was to pressure Powell to lower rates or resign. 

Washington, D.C., U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, whose office is spearheading the investigation, promised to appeal.

(Reporting by David Thomas)