Trump Nominates Kevin Warsh as Fed Chair

President Donald Trump said Friday he is nominating Kevin Warsh to serve as chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, ending weeks of speculation over who would lead the central bank when Chair Jerome Powell's term expires in May.

"I am pleased to announce that I am nominating Kevin Warsh to be the CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM," Trump wrote on Truth Social, calling Warsh "one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best."

Warsh, a former Fed governor who has become a prominent critic of the central bank, would take over at a moment when Trump has repeatedly pressed the Fed to cut interest rates faster. The Fed held its benchmark short-term rate steady this week after three consecutive cuts last year, drawing a fresh rebuke from Trump.

Warsh served on the Fed's Board of Governors from 2006 to 2011 and worked closely with then-Chair Ben Bernanke during the 2008-09 financial crisis. He later resigned years before his term would have ended. He has since stepped up his public criticism of the Fed, including calls for "regime change" and an overhaul of the framework that guides how the central bank sets rates.

In his announcement, Trump highlighted Warsh's current roles at Stanford and the Hoover Institution, saying Warsh is the Shepard Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Economics at Hoover and a lecturer at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. Trump also said Warsh is a partner of Stanley Druckenmiller at Duquesne Family Office LLC.

Warsh previously worked in mergers and acquisitions at Morgan Stanley and served in the George W. Bush White House from 2002 to 2006 as a top economic policy aide and executive secretary of the National Economic Council, according to Trump's post.

The nomination now goes to the Senate, where the confirmation process has been complicated by a Justice Department probe involving the central bank.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a member of the Senate Banking Committee, has said he would block Fed nominees until the investigation is resolved. The probe focuses on Powell's testimony to Congress about building renovations, which Powell has called a pretext to push the Fed toward lower rates.

Warsh had been seen as a leading contender alongside Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent managed the search and had presented Trump with additional finalists, including Rick Rieder of BlackRock and Fed Gov. Christopher Waller, whom Trump appointed to the board in 2020.

Since Powell’s confirmation in 2018 during Trump’s first term, the president has repeatedly pressed Fed policymakers to cut rates more aggressively.

Even after three successive reductions late in 2025, Trump continued pushing for lower rates while also faulting Powell over cost overruns tied to the Fed’s sweeping renovation of its Washington, D.C., headquarters.

Warsh, meanwhile, has previewed a more confrontational posture toward the institution he is now poised to lead.

In a CNBC interview last summer, he called for "regime change" at the Fed and said, "The credibility deficit lies with the incumbents that are at the Fed, in my view," a stance that could set up tensions inside a central bank where consensus-building is central to implementing policy.

The nomination lands at what some analysts see as one of the most precarious stretches for the Fed in decades, with inflation still not fully back to the central bank’s 2% target, federal borrowing climbing, and political pressure on monetary policy unusually direct.

Powell, in an unusually blunt response to the Justice Department’s subpoena tied to the renovation project, said the move was a "pretext" to push the Fed to follow Trump’s wishes and ease policy further.

Questions about Fed independence have also intensified as Trump allies have floated ideas that would tighten White House oversight or alter how the Fed sets rates, including proposals that would require the chair to consult with the president on rate decisions.

The Warsh pick ends what was described as a crowded search that, at one point, included roughly 11 candidates, later narrowed through an interview process led by Bessent before Trump suggested in a CNBC appearance last week that he had settled on his choice.

Looking ahead, markets are not pricing in dramatic near-term change: traders are currently expecting no more than two additional cuts this year, with the fed funds rate settling around 3%, near where policymakers have indicated the long-run "neutral" rate may be.

Another unresolved question is what Powell does next. While chairs have historically stepped down from the Fed’s Board after losing the top job, Powell still has two years left in his term as a governor and could opt to remain, as the Supreme Court weighs a separate fight over Trump’s effort to remove Gov. Lisa Cook, a case that could help define how much power a president has over Fed board members.

"Christopher Waller, Rick Rieder, and others, were interviewed for the Fed position. They all would have been outstanding, and have a great and unlimited future with “TRUMP.” Such amazing talent in our Country," Trump said on Truth Social.

In a seperate post he added: "Their was great speculation that highly respected Kevin Hassett was going to be named Chairman of the Fed, and a great Chairman he would have been but, quite honestly, he is doing such an outstanding job working with me and my team at the White House, that I just didn’t want to let him go. Kevin is indescribably good so, as the expression goes, “if you can’t do better, don’t try to fix it!” Thank you Kevin for doing such a great job! President DJT."