"Are you stupid?" That's the question one legal expert asked after the Trump administration decided to "antagonize" the Supreme Court just ahead of a crucial decision is planned to drop.
Ian Millhiser, a senior correspondent for Vox, appeared on MS NOW over the weekend, where he was asked about the DOJ's decision to investigate Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve of the United States. Powell himself dropped a defiant response, saying, "The threat of criminalcharges is a consequence of thefederal reserve settinginterest rates based on ourbest assessment of what willserve the public, rather thanfollowing the preferences ofthe president."
The host asked Millhiser, "I know there is no Supreme Court case involvingthe Fed chair, but what kind ofimpact do you think a statementlike that from the fed chaircould have on the on the Lisa Cook case."
"Yeah. I mean, the issue with Jerome Powell is basically thesame as the issue with Lisa Cook," he said, referencing a lawsuit over Trump's attempt to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook in 2025. "And in both cases, Trump's kind of making up asham reason or looking for asham reason to try to interferewith the Fed's independence.I'm very surprised by thetiming of this probe into Jerome Powell. As far as I cantell, I think it's acoincidence that the Justice Department decided to filethese subpoenas essentially twoweeks before the Supreme Courtwas going to hear... but like,are you stupid? Like, why wouldyou antagonize the Court inthat in that way? Why would youmake it so obvious thatsomething nefarious is going onhere? Two weeks before the Supreme Court is about to hearthis important case."