Trump's Fed chair pressure has reached a 'disturbing' new level: analysis

When unable to remove Powell directly by law, Trump pressed for a criminal investigation into Powell through U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's office, alleging mismanagement of Federal Reserve headquarters renovation costs.MSNow analyst Duncan Levin wrote, Many American presidents have wanted a more compliant Federal Reserve. And President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign against Fed Chair Jerome Powell has taken tactics to a disturbing level — further eroding the Justice Department’s traditional independence.Simply put, prosecutors were never meant to be part of a president’s plan to break the Fed. A criminal investigation is supposed to determine whether a crime occurred. It is not supposed to become a cloud kept in place because the cloud itself is useful.The investigation has backfired spectacularly for Trump as it blocks confirmation of Trump's replacement nominee, Kevin Warsh, effectively prolonging Powell's tenure rather than ending it.Levin added, And the criminal investigation is hanging over more than Powell. Trump has named Kevin Warsh as his choice for the next Fed chair. But Powell has said he intends to remain on the Fed board until the investigation is over, and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, has said he will not vote to confirm Warsh until the DOJ’s probe of Powell is closed. The unresolved criminal probe has become entangled with the leadership transition.Prosecutors wield extraordinary authority. That authority is justified by the expectation that it will be used for law-enforcement purposes, not as a political instrument against independent actors the president wants removed. This situation has all the problems that accompany selective prosecution as well as the more subtle but equally corrosive use of unresolved criminal process to wear down resistance, damage credibility and make institutional independence more difficult to sustain.