CNN panel busts out laughing as Trump DOJ makes president's life harder

The panel on CNN's "The Lead" broke out laughing on Wednesday as one of President Donald Trump's loyalists in the Department of Justice made his life much harder.

Trump has been trying to remove Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell from his post for months over Powell's insistence that interest rates remain elevated to combat inflation. At one point, the president accused Powell of causing more than $500 million in cost overruns on the Federal Reserve headquarters renovation project, a figure Powell has publicly described as "inflated."

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro has taken the baton to investigate Powell, but that investigation is currently holding up the nomination process for Kevin Warsh, whom Trump has nominated to succeed Powell when his term ends on May 15.

CNN host Phil Mattingly joked about Pirro's investigation on "The Lead."

"What's another result is having Kevin Warsh as Fed chair on May 16th, which they could get if they dropped the prosecution," Mattingly said, laughing. "I feel like I keep saying this, but someone has to be connecting these dots here."