1. United States
2. Mass.
3. Letter

The political prosecution of the Federal Reserve Chair has to be where Congress draws the line. Jerome Powell is right. This case is a pretext to blackmail him into serving Trump’s every desire. It’s the stuff of tinpot dictatorships, not a rich and stable democracy. And it’s going to create a financial crisis that will screw up my family’s future. It should go without saying that disagreeing with a president on policy matters is not a crime in a democracy, and if a public official doing so risks investigation and imprisonment we have made the president’s every whim law. This is a giant step towards making this country a functional dictatorship. For those who don’t give a damn about freedom or the rule of law, undermining the independence of the Federal Reserve Board could also crater our economy in both the short and long term. The markets openly panicked when Trump was just threatening to fire Powell, and their reaction to the Fed being under the White House’s thumb for good is likely to be far worse. As your constituent, I am calling on you to publicly demand the probe into Powell be dropped and insist on an investigation of how this case was handled by the Justice Department’s inspector general and Congress itself. The Attorney General, the U.S. Attorney for D.C. and anyone else working on this must testify publicly and under oath on the President’s involvement. Further, you must use every available lever to protect our economy and stop this weaponization of our justice system against anyone who disagrees with the White House. This should include refusing to support any new nominees to the Federal Reserve until this matter is resolved, along with utilizing the power of the appropriations process and impeachment. Our public officials should be able to follow the evidence and their judgment where they lead without fearing it will put them in prison. Inaction in the face of this challenge is unacceptable.