A bipartisan group of former Treasury secretaries and other top economic officials has blasted the Trump administration for launching a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The probe was set in motion after Powell refused Trump’s demands to lower interest rates. The former officials described the investigation as an “unprecedented attempt to use prosecutorial attacks to undermine” the independence of the Federal Reserve. Signatories to the letter include former Fed chairs Janet Yellen, Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan. The Wall Street Journal reports Trump’s own Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has privately warned Trump the move to investigate Powell could backfire.