WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department's investigation of a $2.5 billion renovation project at the Federal Reserve didn't find any evidence of a crime, a federal prosecutor privately conceded under questioning by a skeptical judge earlier this month, according to a transcript of the sealed hearing.
That admission by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Massucco came during a March 3 hearing that was closed to the public, the transcript shows. Eight days later, Chief Judge James Boasberg quashed government subpoenas issued to the Federal Reserve, dealing a severe blow to the government's investigation.
In his March 11 ruling, Boasberg said the government had produced “essentially zero evidence” to suspect Fed Chair Jerome Powell of a crime. The judge, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Barack Obama, also described prosecutors' justification for the subpoenas as “thin and unsubstantiated."
During the earlier hearing, Boasberg asked the prosecutor from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's office to specify any evidence of fraud or criminal misconduct related to Powell's testimony about the renovation project or the construction work itself.
“So what false statements did (Powell) make before Congress?” the judge asked Massucco, according to the transcript.
“Well, we don’t know is my first answer,” replied Massucco, chief of the criminal division for Pirro’s Washington office. “However, there are certain areas that he addressed that caused concern.”
“Okay,” the judge continued. “And then what evidence is there of fraud or criminal misconduct in relation to the renovations?”
“Again, we do not know at this time. However, there are 1.2 billion reasons for us to look into it,” Massucco said, referring to the amount of the project's cost overruns.
The Washington Post was the first to report on the details of the hearing from the transcript.
The investigation has delayed Senate consideration of Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s pick to replace Powell when his term ends May 15. Powell can remain as chair past that date if no replacement has been approved.
“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,” the judge wrote.
Massucco said during the sealed hearing that there is no evidence that prosecutors' motive for the grand jury subpoenas “is anything other than trying to find the truth of the matter.”
“And we have a right to do that,” he added.
Robert Hur, an attorney who represented the Federal Reserve board of governors at the March 3 hearing, said the subpoenas are part of a pressure campaign to support Trump's push for lower interest rates.
“He clearly has very strong political motives to try to get lower interest rates, but because of the safeguards that have been erected by Congress around the Federal Reserve’s independence when it comes to setting monetary policy, he can’t get it,” Hur told the judge.
Pirro, a former Fox News host who was Trump's pick to lead the nation's largest U.S. Attorney's office, derided Boasberg as an “activist judge” and claimed he had “neutered the grand jury’s ability to investigate crime." She vowed to appeal his decision.
“This is wrong and it is without legal authority,” she said at a news conference earlier this month.
A Fed spokesperson declined to comment Tuesday.
The investigation by Pirro's office centered on brief testimony last June by Powell before the Senate Banking Committee, when he was asked about cost overruns on the Fed’s extensive building renovations. The most recent estimates from the Fed suggest the current estimated cost of $2.5 billion is about $600 million higher than a 2022 estimate of $1.9 billion.
In his ruling, Boasberg said the Justice Department rejected his offer to let the government submit further evidence against Powell directly to him, so that they wouldn’t have to tip their hand to the Fed or Powell.
“The Court is thus left with no credible reason to think that the Government is investigating suspicious facts as opposed to targeting a disfavored official,” the judge wrote.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — An exit poll pointed to a disappointing showing for the party of Denmark’s prime minister in an election Tuesday, after a campaign that focused on bread-and-butter issues rather than her handling of the crisis over U.S. President Donald Trump 's ambitions toward Greenland.
All three parties in Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's government looked set to lose ground, according to a poll conducted by the Megafon research institute for broadcaster TV 2. It suggested that left-leaning and right-leaning blocs were likely to fall short of a majority in parliament.
If that is the case, experienced Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen — a former prime minister — could play the role of kingmaker. His centrist Moderate party could determine whether Frederiksen can serve a third term at the helm of the European Union and NATO country of some 6 million people.
The 48-year-old Frederiksen is known for strong support of Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion and for a restrictive approach to migration — continuing what has become a tradition in Danish politics.
The poll showed Frederiksen’s center-left Social Democrats remaining the biggest single party with about 21% of the vote, well below the 27.5% they took in the 2022 election.
Frederiksen called the election in February, several months before she had to. She apparently hoped that her resolute image in the standoff over Trump’s push for control of Greenland, rallying European allies behind Denmark, would help her with voters.
Her support had previously waned as the cost of living rose, something that, along with pensions and a potential wealth tax, has been a prominent campaign issue.
Social Democrat lawmaker Morten Klessen said the outgoing government had performed well, but that “there’s been a lot of trouble in Europe and I think our government has had a lot of focus about Ukraine and I think we have lost a little bit in domestic votes for that." He argued that “we need Mette Frederiksen in Europe for solidarity.”
No single party was expected to come anywhere near winning a majority. Denmark’s system of proportional representation typically produces coalition governments, traditionally made up of several parties from either the “red bloc” on the left or the “blue bloc” on the right, after weeks of negotiations.
Frederiksen’s outgoing administration was the first in decades to cross the left-right divide.
Caroline Stage Olsen, a former minister seeking election for the Moderates, argued that “a large part of the Danish population wants a center-focused government.”
She said that "difficult times call for cooperation and call for the parties and for politicians to gather up, man up, woman up and cooperate.”
Two center-right challengers hoped to oust Frederiksen as prime minister. One is in her current government — Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen of the Liberal, or Venstre, party, which headed several recent administrations but also appeared on course to win fewer seats Tuesday.
The other was Alex Vanopslagh, 34, of the opposition Liberal Alliance, which calls for lower taxes and less bureaucracy, and for Denmark to abandon its refusal to use nuclear power.
Further to the right, the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party was set to improve significantly on its very weak showing at the last election in 2022.
Greenland, which took up much of the government’s energy in recent months, wasn't a significant issue in the campaign because there is broad agreement on its place in the kingdom.
Frederiksen warned in January that an American takeover of Greenland would amount to the end of NATO. But the crisis has simmered down, at least for now.
After Trump backed down on threats to impose tariffs on Denmark and other European countries that opposed the U.S. taking control of the vast Arctic island, the U.S., Denmark and Greenland started technical talks on an Arctic security deal.
Denmark’s single-chamber parliament, the Folketing, has 179 seats. Of those, 175 go to lawmakers from Denmark itself and two each to representatives from thinly populated Greenland and the kingdom’s other semiautonomous territory, the Faroe Islands.
More than 4.3 million were eligible to vote.
Moulson reported from Berlin. James Brooks in Copenhagen, Denmark contributed to this report.
Members of the conservative liberal Venstre party react after the General Election in the Danish Parliament in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Leader of the Conservative People's Party, Mona Juul, arrives at an election party after the parliamentary election at Tietgen's House, in Copenhagen, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (Claus Bech/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Lars Loekke Rasmussen, Denmark's Minister of Foreign Affairs and leader of the Moderates, casts his vote in the parliamentary election, in Graested, Denmark, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (Keld Navntoft/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Chairman of Liberal Alliance Alex Vanopslagh speaks at the election party after the parliamentary elections, at Moltkes Palae, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (Nils Meilvang/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Denmark's Prime Minister and The Social Democrats' leader Mette Frederiksen meets Greenlandic voters on election day in Aalborg, Denmark, Tuesday March 24, 2026. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Ballots will be sorted at the end of the general election in Aalborg, Denmark, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Danish Prime Minister and Leader of the Social Democrats Mette Frederiksen meets voters at a rally in her support in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, during the general election. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Jacob Engel Schmidt from the Moderates reacts to the first exit poll during the Danish election for the parliament in Copenhagen, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (Rasmus Flindt Pedersen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Members of The Social Democrats react to the first exit poll during the Danish election for the parliament in Copenhagen, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Leader of the Moderates Lars Loekke Rasmussen, center left, and leader of the Danish People's Party Morten Messerschmidt , center, right, speak during TV2's party leader debate 'The Last Answer' in the Common Hall at Christiansborg, in Copenhagen, Monday, March 23, 2026. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
A person exits a polling booth at a polling station at City Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, during the general election. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
A man casts a ballot at a polling station at City Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, during the general election. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
A woman holds a ballot at a polling station at City Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, during the general election. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
People line up to receive their ballots at a polling station at City Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, during the general election. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
FILE - Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen arrives for the EU summit in Brussels, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)
FILE - Denmark's Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen speaks with the media as he arrives for a meeting of European Union defense ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Harry Nakos, File)
Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, center, Lars Loekke Rasmussen, right, and Pia Olsen Dyhr, left, attend the party leader debate Democracy's Evening on DR1 at the Concert Hall, DR City in Copenhagen, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, left, and Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, right, attend the party leader debate Democracy's Evening on DR1 at the Concert Hall, DR City in Copenhagen, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
