President Trump has nominated Kevin M. Warsh to succeed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell once his tenure comes to a close in May.
The president made the announcement via a post on Truth Social on Friday morning.
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Warsh would also need to be confirmed by the Senate in order to step into the position as head of the central bank.
“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,” President Trump wrote. “On top of everything else, he is ‘central casting,’ and he will never let you down. Congratulations Kevin!”
Other contenders for Fed chair that the Trump administration had considered included Kevin A. Hassett, an economic advisor to Trump, Christopher J. Waller, a current Fed governor, and Rick Rieder, an executive at BlackRock.
In his announcement, Trump did not mention Powell, who is currently facing a probe from the Justice Department, which the Fed chair characterized as politically motivated.
Since taking office, the president has intensely scrutinized Powell and threatened to terminate him if he did not bring interest rates down further and more quickly while Americans grapple with the effects of inflation and a weak labor market.
The pressure campaign has called into question whether or not the central bank can remain an independent institution moving forward. In response to the criminal investigation into Powell, some Senate Republicans responded strongly in support of the Fed chair and also vowed to block any new nominee until the investigation is resolved.
Trump made no secret of the fact that his primary criteria for the new Fed chair was someone who would support significantly lowering rates.
During its meeting on Wednesday, the Fed voted to hold rates steady within a range of 3.5 to 3.75 percent.
Warsh, who is a conservative economist, previously worked as an aide to President George W. Bush and served as a governor on the Fed’s board from February 2006 until March 2011. During that period, he was also the Fed’s representative to the Group of 20, and played a key role in the Fed’s response to the 2008 financial crisis — including through helping to broker the sale of Bear Stearns to JPMorgan Chase. Prior to joining the Fed, Warsh worked in mergers and acquisitions at Morgan Stanley.
More recently, he has worked with billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller and is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
During his first tenure at the Fed, Warsh became known as a “hawk” when it came to curbing inflation through higher interest rates.
Since becoming a candidate for Fed chair, however, Warsh’s ideas on rates and inflation have made a reversal, and he has voiced his criticism of the central bank publicly.
In an appearance on CNBC in July, Warsh said “Their hesitancy to cut rates, I think, is actually … quite a mark against them.” Warsh also called for a “regime change in the conduct of policy,” adding, “the credibility deficit lies with the incumbents that are at the Fed, in my view.”
Economists have long considered the Fed’s independence as critical to the stability of financial markets and the economy. The question of whether or not Warsh can maintain the institution’s independence will be on the minds of many during his confirmation hearing. In the past, he has called the Fed’s independence “essential,” but has also more recently suggested complete independence may not be ideal.
“History tells us that the independent operations in the conduct of monetary policy is essential,” he told CNBC in July. “But that doesn’t mean the Fed is independent in everything else it does.”
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