By KATELYN CARALLE, SENIOR U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER
Published: | Updated:
Kevin Warsh will serve as the next chair of the Federal Reserve. President Donald Trump made the announcement early Friday morning in a highly anticipated move to succeed Jerome Powell. In a Truth Social post announcing the decision, the president listed Warsh’s credentials for the role, including his five-year stint serving as a Member of the Board of Governors at the Federal Reserve from 2006 until 2011. Trump concluded with: ‘On top of everything else, he is ‘central casting,’ and he will never let you down.’
Powell Nears the End of a Turbulent Fed Tenure
Powell’s term ends on May 15, 2026, and he has two more policy meetings left as part of his tenure in the role after the one held this week. He will vacate the role after a contentious year-and-a-half filled with clashes and public feuds with the president over how to move rates at the Fed. At the premiere of First Lady Melania’s film at the Trump-Kennedy Center on Thursday night, Trump was excited to preview the impending announcement for his pick to head the Fed for the next four years.
Trump Signals He Has Chosen the Next Fed Chair
He said on Thursday night that he had made up his mind and that his pick was ‘somebody that is very respected, somebody that’s known to everybody in the financial world.’ ‘A lot of people think that this is somebody that could have been there a few years ago,’ he added, sparking speculation it could be Warsh considering he was a finalist for the role in 2017. Currently, the 55-year-old is a scholar and lecturer at Stanford, a member of the international Group of 30 and a member of the Panel of Economic Advisers at the Congressional Budget Office.
At 35 he became the youngest-ever person to get a seat on the Board of Governors at the Federal Reserve. Some analysts speculate Warsh’s nomination is a welcomed one due to his Fed experience and Wall Street’s view that he wouldn’t always do Trump’s bidding. But that doesn’t mean he’s a shoe-in. Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina floated in a conversations with Politico blocking the nominee until the investigation into Powell is done.
‘I don’t have any problem with him trying to do it,’ the retiring senator told Dasha Burns on her The Conversation podcast when asked about the president exerting control of the Fed. He added: ‘I have a problem with people being quiet on our side when we definitely can stand in the breach and prevent it from happening. And that’s what I’m doing. That’s a typical tug and pull.’ Trump has tried, and failed, to influence Powell on how to change rates at the Fed.
He has frequently attacked the Chairman on social media, calling him ‘stupid,’ a ‘jerk,’ a ‘major loser,’ a ‘knucklehead’ and ‘Mr. Too Late.’ Most recently the president called Powell a ‘moron’ this month for holding interest rates steady and claiming he is costing the US ‘hundreds of billions’ in interest and expenses.