Episode summary
Judge Rejects Subpoenas of Fed Board in Powell Case | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · 39 min · Hosts: Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec · Guests: Elliot Stein, Mike Collins, Oleksandr Komarov, Katrina Manson
Summary
A federal judge rejected Justice Department subpoenas to the Federal Reserve Board tied to the Fed’s headquarters renovation and Jerome Powell’s testimony, saying the government showed essentially no evidence and appeared to be acting with an improper motive. The host and a guest said the ruling could have been an off-ramp for the Trump administration to end the investigation, but instead the DOJ said it would appeal and likely seek reconsideration first. The guest argued that the appeal may be aimed less at the legal merits than at keeping pressure on Powell and delaying the confirmation fight over Powell’s successor.
The discussion also turned to whether the legal move makes sense on its own. The guest said if the judge used probable cause as the standard to quash subpoenas, that could create an appeal issue, but if the government thinks the subpoena standard was misread, an appeal would be normal even without the politics. Still, the host and guest agreed the case sits inside a broader fight over Fed independence and the administration’s desire to replace Powell.
Later segments shifted to fixed income and credit markets, where a guest said rising oil prices, higher rates, and widening credit spreads are making investors more cautious, though he did not see systemic stress in private credit. The show also featured a Kyiv-based telecom executive describing wartime network resilience and a Bloomberg reporter explaining how AI-enabled military systems are being used in Iran and could shape a future conflict over Taiwan.
Key takeaways
- The judge said the Fed subpoenas appeared pretextual and aimed at pressuring Powell over interest rates, not investigating a real crime.
- The guest said the DOJ’s appeal could delay the fight over Kevin Walsh’s nomination and keep the Powell succession battle alive.
- A fixed-income guest said credit spreads are about 25% wider than earlier this year, but he does not see a 2008-style crisis in private credit.
- The Kyiv telecom CEO said Kyivstar has cut EBITDA margin from 67% to 56% since the war began because of resilience spending.
- The Bloomberg reporter said Centcom is using AI tools and Maven Smart System in Iran operations to speed targeting from days and months to seconds.
Notable quotes
“since February 28th as as Mike said a lot of things have changed the front end has taken out two full Fed rate cuts off the market in two weeks weeks, right”
“We are right now at the level of 56% EBD margin”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news. This is Bloomberg Business Week Daily, reporting from the magazine that helps global leaders stay ahead with insight on the people, companies, and trends shaping today's complex economy. Plus, global business, finance, and tech news as it happens. The Bloomberg Business Week Daily podcast with Carol Masser and Tim Stenbec on Bloomberg Radio.
I just want to bring everyone up to speed on the breaking news that we've been following. Uh the judge a judge has rejected subpoenas of the Fed in a Powell case. Uh the Justice Department will appeal.
We did just hear from US attorney for Washington, uh Janine Piro. A federal judge rejected an improper justice department subpoenas issued to the Federal Reserve Board seeking records relating to its renovations of it headquarters in CH and Chair Jerome Powell's comments to Congress about the project. Under the judge uh the judge said the US District judge rather said that the government had advanced no evidence to justify the subpoenas and said they clearly reflected a quote improper motive of retaliating against Powell over policy differences.
for what it's worth. Over on Fox Business, we've got Bill Py who is chair of the Federal Housing Finance Agency uh and he's making some comments to um that uh the DOJ engine and Janine Piro getting to the bottom of what's going on and he too is saying that the Fed chair Jay Powell has got to go. Yep.
Uh so it continues. Let's get to it though with a member of our team who's been following all of this. Elliot Stein is with us right now and he is
Litigation analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. Ellie, it's good to have you with us. Um, it's a per perfect voice on this because certainly the Fed story is part of it, but a a big part of the story is too what happens legally.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- fed subpoena
- jerome powell
- interest rates
- fed headquarters renovation
- us attorney department
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Bloomberg Intelligence
- PGIM Fixed Income
- Kyivstar
Watch the episode
Watch “Judge Rejects Subpoenas of Fed Board in Powell Case | Bloomberg Businessweek” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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