Pirro Didn't Give Bosses a Heads Up Before Powell Move

Jerome Powell isn't the only person under scrutiny because of the newly launched Justice Department investigation. The federal prosecutor who made the surprise move—former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro—is also very much in the spotlight. Coverage:

• Pirro, the US attorney for DC since August, did not give her superiors at the Justice Department, the White House, or the Treasury Department advance warning before the DOJ issued subpoenas in the case, according to reports at Axios, NBC News, and Bloomberg. (President Trump has said he had no advance knowledge and seemed to distance himself from the move.)

• In a social media post Monday, Pirro defended the action, saying the Federal Reserve ignored requests for information about alleged cost overruns on building renovations, necessitating the subpoenas. "None of this would have happened if they had just responded to our outreach," she wrote, adding that "the word 'indictment' has come out of Mr. Powell's mouth, no one else's."
• Still, the unprecedented move against a sitting chair of the central bank has brought a steady drumbeat of criticism, including from prominent GOP senators who worry it could undermine the central bank's ability to operate free of political influence. Pirro, however, "has no plans to back down," an insider tells Bloomberg.
• The investigation began quietly late last year, and few people were in the loop, reports NBC News. The Bloomberg report sees Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte as a "driving force" behind the probe, though he distanced himself publicly. "The DOJ is outside of my purview," he said in a TV interview. "This is out of my purview. I don't know anything about it, and I would defer you to the DOJ."