U.S. President Donald Trump adjust his ball cap next to first lady Melania Trump as they give out treats during a Halloween event at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 30, 2025. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
President Donald Trump’s own social media posts harmed the Department of Justice’s efforts to criminally investigate Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, according to a Washington, D.C. reporter.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg “quashed a pair of subpoenas tied to the investigation and ordered the docket in the case to be unsealed,” The Washington Post reported, calling it “a significant setback” for the Trump administration’s inquiry.
“A mountain of evidence suggests that the Government served these subpoenas on the Board to pressure its Chair into voting for lower interest rates or resigning,” Judge Boasberg wrote. “On the other side of the scale, the Government has produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime; indeed, its justifications are so thin and unsubstantiated that the Court can only conclude that they are pretextual.”
Washington correspondent and investigative journalist Scott Macfarlane reported, “Trump’s Truth Social posts appear to have gravely injured his attempt to get a criminal case against Jerome Powell.”
Judge Boasberg’s 27-page memorandum opinion began with a Trump Truth Social post:
“Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell has done it again!!! He is TOO LATE, and actually, TOO ANGRY, TOO STUPID, & TOO POLITICAL, to have the job of Fed Chair. He is costing our Country TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS… Put another way, ‘Too Late’ is a TOTAL LOSER, and our Country is paying the price!’ ” Trump wrote on July 31, 2025, as Boasberg noted.
“That is one of at least 100 statements that the President or his deputies have made attacking the Chair of the Federal Reserve and pressuring him to lower interest rates,” the judge wrote.
The words “Too Late,” as in Trump’s nickname for the Fed chairman, appear in Boasberg’s opinion eighteen times
The judge cited numerous Trump posts.
“‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell is costing our Country Hundreds of Billions of Dollars. He is truly one of the dumbest, and most destructive, people in Government…. TOO LATE’s an American Disgrace!” Trump wrote on June 19, 2025.
On August 1, 2025, as Boasberg wrote, Trump posted: “Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell, a stubborn MORON, must substantially lower interest rates, NOW. IF HE CONTINUES TO REFUSE, THE BOARD SHOULD ASSUME CONTROL, AND DO WHAT EVERYONE KNOWS HAS TO BE DONE!”
Boasberg also noted that as he “considered whom to appoint as the Fed’s next Chair,” Trump vowed, “Anybody that disagrees with me will never be the Fed Chairman!”
In his opinion, as MacFarlane reported, Boasberg wrote that Trump “spent years essentially asking if no one will rid him of this troublesome Fed Chair. He then suggested a specific line of investigation into him, which had been proposed by a political appointee with no role in law enforcement, who hinted that it could be a way to remove Powell. The President’s appointed prosecutor promptly complied.”
Boasberg also suggested that federal prosecutors had issued subpoenas improperly.
“Did prosecutors issue those subpoenas for a proper purpose? The Court finds that they did not. There is abundant evidence that the subpoenas’ dominant (if not sole) purpose is to harass and pressure Powell either to yield to the President or to resign and make way for a Fed Chair who will.”