Trump rules out Bessent as next Fed chair, says may name Powell replacement soon

Yahoo

2 days ago

President Trump said Tuesday morning that the pool of potential nominees to succeed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is down to four people, and that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will not be nominated for the role.
"The two Kevins are doing well, and I have two other people that are doing well," Trump said in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday. The "two Kevins" are in reference to former Fed governor Kevin Warsh and Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council.
Asked about Fed Governor Chris Waller and Secretary Bessent, Trump didn't deny that Waller was among the four possible replacements for Powell, but did say that Bessent does not want the job.
"I love Scott, but he wants to stay where he is," Trump said.
Trump said he may make the decision to announce Powell's replacement "soon," also noting that Fed governor Adriana Kugler is set to leave her post at the end of week and that a nominee for that opening could be announced in the coming days.
Asked whether a Kugler replacement could eventually be nominated to replace Powell as Fed chair, Trump said, "that's a possibility, too."
Kugler's term as a governor was set to expire on Jan. 31, but she announced last week she will resign on Aug. 8, opening a spot on the Federal Reserve Board for the president to fill. Kugler, who has served as a Fed governor since Sept. 13, 2023, will return to Georgetown University as a professor this fall.
Warsh has experience navigating the central bank, serving as Fed governor from 2006 until 2011; Warsh was former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke's liaison to Wall Street during the chaos of the 2008 financial crisis.
He is also a known figure to Trump, who interviewed him for the Fed chair post eight years ago before deciding to nominate Powell.
Trump nominated Powell to serve as Fed chair in 2017 at the direction of then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Powell's first term as Fed chair began in Feb. 2018. Former President Biden reappointed Powell to another four year term which started in 2022. Powell's current term as Fed chair is set to expire next May.
The White House also hopes that Powell will decide to leave the Fed Board of Governors when his chairmanship is up next year, which would open up a second seat Trump can fill. Powell has not yet said whether he intends to do that; his term as a Fed governor is not up until 2028.
Warsh has been critical of the Fed of late, suggesting that the Fed could look through inflation related to tariffs because they'd be a one-time increase.
He's also argued that the costs involved in renovating the Fed's headquarters represent one of several examples of how the Fed "has lost its way" and that the American people "need a reformer to fix" the institution and rebuild its credibility. "Frankly, it's about breaking some heads," he said on Fox Business last month, calling for "regime change" at the central bank.
Hassett, meanwhile, already has a close relationship with Trump, given that he advises the president on economic policy and also served in the first Trump administration.
Earlier in the year, Hassett said he was more focused on the 10-year Treasury yield than on any quick monetary policy changes at the Federal Reserve. While the Fed has greater influence on short-term Treasury yields, longer-term yields are influenced by a range of factors outside the Fed and the 10-year holds sway over mortgage rates that more directly weigh on household finances.
Recently, Hassett has been more blunt, saying there's no reason why the Fed shouldn't be cutting rates now, something the president has repeatedly hammered the central bank to do.
Hassett signaled in an interview Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press that he's open to succeeding Fed Chair Powell if the president chooses him.
'I've been working with the president for about eight years, and, you know, as one of his closest economic advisers, of course, we've talked about the Federal Reserve,' Hassett told NBC. When pressed whether he'd say yes if chosen to be the next Fed Chair, Hassett said, 'we'll have to see if he chooses me.'
Meanwhile, Fed Governor Waller — whom the president acknowledged is in the running for chair — dissented at last week's central bank policy meeting along with Fed Governor Michelle Bowman, with both preferring the Fed cut rates by 25 basis rather than keeping interest rates unchanged.