Warren Presses Trump On Involvement in Powell, Cook Investigations Following Bessent Assertion to Warren that DOJ Investigations are “Up to the President”

Warren Presses Trump On Involvement in Powell, Cook Investigations Following Bessent Assertion to Warren that DOJ Investigations are "Up to the President"

"Secretary Bessent made clear that you would be the key decisionmaker with regard to any DOJ efforts to criminalize a Fed Chair's policy decision on interest rates."

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, sent a letter to President Trump questioning his involvement in the Department of Justice's investigations into Fed Governors, following Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's assertion to Senator Warren that decisions about whether to investigate a Fed Chair are "up to the President."

"At a hearing today before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that any future decision to weaponize the Department of Justice (DOJ) to sue or criminally investigate Kevin Warsh, your nominee to serve as the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ('Fed' or 'Federal Reserve'), for failing to lower interest rates would be 'up to the President.'" wrote the Senator.

"Over the course of 2025, you made clear that you wanted the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates and repeatedly threatened Chair Powell over his unwillingness to do so on your terms. Specifically, you threatened to fire and sue him." wrote the Senator. "After months of these threats, on January 11, 2026, it became public that the Department of Justice (DOJ) had opened a criminal investigation into Chair Powell."

The Senator continued: "Secretary Bessent made clear that you would be the key decisionmaker with regard to any DOJ efforts to criminalize a Fed Chair's policy decision on interest rates."

The Senator requests answers from President Trump on three key questions:

1. Is Secretary Bessent correct that any decision to investigate or sue Kevin Warsh in the future over his interest rate decisions will be "up to" you? If not, why did he say that?
2. Was the decision to launch a criminal investigation of Chair Powell "up to" you, despite your claims to the contrary? If not, why would Secretary Bessent suggest that such decisions in the future will be "up to" you? What has changed?
3. Was the decision to launch a criminal investigation of Governor Cook "up to" you? If not, why would Secretary Bessent suggest that similar decisions involving a future Fed Chair will be "up to" you? What has changed?

The Senator requested answers from Trump to better understand his involvement in criminal investigations into Fed Governors, and future intent to investigate future Fed Governors, no later than February 13, 2026.

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