Trump Expected to Pick Kevin Warsh as Fed Chair
President says he plans to announce his choice to succeed Jerome Powell as Fed chair on Friday
WASHINGTON—President Trump’s advisers have been told that he is expected to nominate Kevin Warsh, a central bank insider-turned-critic, as Federal Reserve chair, according to people familiar with the matter.
Trump’s selection of Warsh would bring to an end a monthslong internal deliberation among the president and his top advisers over who should lead the central bank.
The White House and Warsh didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Fed chair nomination is arguably the most important personnel decision Trump faces for the remainder of his term, because the central bank serves as a first responder in financial crises and sets interest rates that affect every corner of the economy and markets.
Trump told reporters that he planned to unveil his Fed chair pick on Friday morning. “A lot of people think that this is somebody that could’ve been there a few years ago,” said Trump, who considered Warsh for the job eight years ago but instead selected the current chair, Jerome Powell. Powell’s term as Fed chair ends in May.
Warsh, 55, has long positioned himself to return to lead an institution he once served—and has spent years publicly criticizing it. A former Fed governor who played behind-the-scenes roles during Washington’s rescue of Wall Street in the 2008-09 financial crisis, Warsh lost out on the top job to Powell in 2017.
Trump quickly soured on his choice of Powell and previously expressed regret over not picking Warsh. “Kevin, I could have used you a little bit here. Why weren’t you more forceful when you wanted that job?” Trump said at a 2020 ceremony, acknowledging Warsh in the audience. “I would have been very happy with you.”
Trump has bashed the Fed throughout both of his terms for not cutting rates faster. The central bank held its benchmark short-term rate steady at its meeting this week, pausing after three consecutive cuts last year and drawing a rebuke from Trump earlier Thursday.
This time, Warsh has aligned himself more closely with Trump’s views—embracing the president’s tariff policies after years as a free-trade advocate and calling last year for the Fed to cut interest rates faster.
In an address at the International Monetary Fund in April, Warsh said the Fed’s “current wounds are largely self-inflicted,” and in television interviews, he has called for “regime change,” an unspecified overhaul of the framework that guides how the central bank sets interest rates.
Earlier Thursday, Trump said he would announce his pick next week, but by evening—following a meeting with Warsh at the White House—he had moved up the timeline, saying he planned to reveal his choice on Friday.
Trump’s pick would have to be confirmed by the Senate, a process that has been complicated by a Justice Department probe of the central bank. Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.), who sits on the Banking Committee that handles Fed nominations, has said he would block any of Trump’s Fed nominees until the investigation is resolved.
The probe is focused on Powell’s testimony to Congress about building renovations. Powell has called it a pretext for Trump to get the lower interest rates he wants. The investigation has amplified concerns about the administration’s efforts to pressure an institution that hasn’t answered to the White House for decades.
Warsh had been considered a leading candidate for the job along with Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council. Warsh was widely seen as the front-runner after Trump earlier this month said he preferred to keep Hassett in his current post.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent managed the search and had presented Trump with two additional finalists: Rick Rieder, a senior executive at BlackRock, and Christopher Waller, a current Fed governor whom Trump appointed to the board in 2020.