Trump taps Kevin Warsh to be the next Fed chair
The pick elevates a policymaker who developed a reputation for his hawkish views on inflation. Warsh has aligned with Trump in criticizing the Fed
Kevin Warsh, former governor of the US Federal Reserve, during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring meetings at the IMF headquarters in Washington, DC in April 2025. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump nominated former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh on Friday morning to be the next Federal Reserve chair, elevating a policymaker who has long prioritized combating inflation and lambasted the central bank.
Trump made the announcement on Friday morning for his pick to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell once his term is up in May. The president praised Warsh, 55, for developing a professional background that he argued makes him a natural candidate to lead the Fed.
"I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best," Trump wrote in a social media post. "On top of everything else, he is 'central casting,' and he will never let you down."
Warsh has aligned with Trump in urging lower interest rates and criticizing the Fed. "Inflation is a choice, and the Fed’s track record under Chairman Jerome Powell is one of unwise choices," Warsh wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in November.
If confirmed by the Senate, Warsh will oversee a 12-member Federal Open Market Committee that has been divided about the pace of interest rate cuts.
As recently as Thursday, Trump was teasing when he would make one of the most important nominations of his second term. The White House had punted the timeline repeatedly as Trump cycled through in-person interviews on his four-person shortlist. Even then, Trump hasn't let up his withering assault on the Fed for not slashing borrowing costs further faster.
It caps a four-month-long, reality TV-style selection process that at one point fluctuated between two men named Kevin: Warsh and Kevin Hassett, a top Trump economic advisor.
Hassett was once considered the frontrunner until the Department of Justice opened a criminal probe into Powell. That development raised further questions among analysts and Fed observers about whether Hassett would keep the central bank at arms length from the White House. In the end, Warsh beat out the other three contenders.
Other finalists to helm the Fed included Rick Rieder, a Blackrock investment executive, and Christopher Waller, a current Fed governor.
How Warsh paved a path to the Fed
Warsh's career started off at Morgan Stanley $MS in 1995, working as a financial adviser on mergers and acquisitions across the banking, tech, and manufacturing sectors.
Warsh, 55, has long cultivated close ties with the Republican establishment and global financiers. He joined the Bush administration as an economic adviser in 2002. Later on, then-President George W. Bush nominated him to be a Fed governor four years later, serving as the central bank's chief liaison to Wall Street from 2006 to 2011.
He cultivated a reputation as a so-called inflation hawk, or Fed policymaker who prioritizes combating inflation with higher interest rates. Warsh was also instrumental in the Fed's key decisions during the 2008 financial crisis. He helped broker the sale of Bear Sterns to JPMorgan $JPM Chase in the early days of the meltdown.
In his first term, Trump almost picked Warsh to be the next Fed chair — despite his occasional criticism of trade barriers — before settling on Powell. Yet Trump quickly grew frustrated with Powell once the Fed began raising interest rates. At one point, the president shared his disappointment with Warsh in blunt terms.
“I would have been very happy with you,” Trump said at a Jan. 2020 signing ceremony at the White House. “I could have used you a little bit here. Why weren’t you more forceful when you wanted that job?”
What's next for Warsh
Warsh's path to Senate confirmation is rocky, at least for the time being. He must first go through a hearing and vote in the Senate Banking Committee, followed by a full floor vote in the upper chamber.
North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis has vowed to block any nominee to the Fed until the DOJ wraps up its Powell investigation. He wields a tie-breaking vote on the Senate Banking panel, which handles Fed nominations.
In December, Trump had no reservations in dictating lower interest rates as part of a litmus test for the next Fed chair. He said he wanted whomever he picked to cut borrowing costs immediately.
If confirmed, Warsh will be tasked with upholding the independence of the Fed against a president who browbeat his predecessor and urged rate-cuts, no matter the cost.