WATCH: Pirro slams judge blocking Justice Department subpoenas to Feds in Powell investigation

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday threw out subpoenas the Justice Department issued to the Federal Reserve in January, a severe blow to an investigation that had already drawn strong criticism on Capitol Hill.

The investigation into testimony by Chairman Jerome Powell last June about the building’s $2.5 billion renovation also delayed Senate consideration of Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s pick to replace Powell when his term expires on May 15.

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Judge James Bosberg said the government had “presented no evidence to suspect Chairman Powell of a crime,” and called its justification for the subpoenas so “weak and unsubstantiated” that they were merely a pretext to force Powell to lower interest rates, as Trump has repeatedly demanded.

“There is ample evidence that the main (if not sole) purpose of the subpoenas was to harass Powell and pressure him either to submit to the president or to resign and make way for the Fed chairman who would do so,” he wrote.

The ruling bars US Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who issued the subpoenas, from obtaining records from the Federal Reserve Bank related to the building’s renovation. Peru criticized the ruling in a press conference and said she would appeal it.

The “activist judge” quashed the subpoenas, “impaired the grand jury’s ability to investigate the crime” and left Powell “bathed by immunity,” Pirro said.

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She added: “This is wrong and has no legal basis.”

Powell revealed the investigation in an unprecedented video on January 11, prompting Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who sits on the Banking Committee, to block consideration of the Warsh case until the investigation was dropped.

Tillis said the ruling underscores “how weak and trivial the criminal investigation into Chairman Powell is.” Tillis vowed to corner all Fed nominees, including Kevin Warsh, Trump’s nominee to be the next Fed chairman, until the criminal investigation against Powell is dropped.

“We all know how this is going to end, and the DCUS Attorney’s Office must save itself from further embarrassment and move on,” Tillis said Friday. “An appeal of the ruling will only delay the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed Chairman.”

AP writers Michael Konzelman, Alana Dworkin Richer and Seung-Min Kim contributed to this report.