The Department of Justice has dropped its criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell, regarding whether he lied to Congress about the $2.5 billion renovations at its D.C. headquarters. The decision leaves a shadow of "lasting damage" to the Fed, which Powell and others believe is a pretext to force the central bank to lower the benchmark federal funds rate to 1% or below. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, announced her office was ending the investigation on April 24 but threatened to restart it if necessary. Powell, a strict Fed institutionalist devoted to central bank independence, has not commented publicly on this change. However, he said he would remain as a Fed governor until all aspects of the unprecedented probe were permanently closed.