Trump narrows Fed chair candidates to four, excluding Treasury Secretary
Bessent
[August 06, 2025] By
FATIMA HUSSEIN
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he's whittled
down his list of potential Federal Reserve chair candidates to four as
he considers a successor to Jerome Powell — a choice that could reset
the path of the U.S. economy.
Asked on CNBC's “Squawk Box” for a future replacement for Powell, Trump
named Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, and
Kevin Warsh, a former member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
“I think Kevin and Kevin, both Kevins, are very good,” Trump said.
He said two other people were also under consideration, but Treasury
Secretary Scott Bessent is not among them.
“I love Scott, but he wants to stay where he is," Trump said. He did not
name his other two top candidates but used the opportunity to disparage
Powell, whom he has dubbed “too late” in cutting interest rates.
The news that Trump plans to make a decision on the Fed chair “soon”
comes as the Republican president has been highly critical of Powell,
whose term ends in May 2026. Trump recently floated having the Fed's
board of governors take full control of the U.S. central bank from
Powell, whom he has relentlessly pressured to cut short-term interest
rates in ways that raise questions about whether the Fed can remain free
from White House politicking.
Trump has openly mused about whether to remove Powell before his tenure
as chair ends, but he's held off on dismissing the Fed chair after a
recent Supreme Court ruling suggested he could only do so for cause
rather than out of policy disagreements. The president has put pressure
on Powell by claiming he mismanaged the Fed's $2.5 billion renovation
project, but he's also said that he's “highly unlikely” to fire Powell.
One of the Fed's governors, Adriana Kugler, made a surprise announcement
last Friday that she would be stepping away from her role. That created
an opening for Trump, who called her departure “a pleasant surprise,” to
name a new Fed governor. Trump told CNBC it's “a possibility” that his
pick to replace Kugler could also be his choice to replace Powell.
Trump told reporters that he plans to name his pick to join the Fed's
board of governors soon, though he is deciding whether he’ll nominate
someone to permanently join the board and possibly succeed Powell or
simply serve out the remaining months of Kugler's term.
“I’ll be making that decision before the end of the week,” Trump said
later Tuesday when asked about his Fed governor pick.
Here’s what to know about the two known candidates:
[to top of second column] |
Director of the White House National Economic Council Kevin Hassett
does a television interview at the White House, Monday, Aug. 4,
2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
 Kevin Hassett
Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, has
been supportive of the president's agenda — from his advocacy for
income tax cuts and tariffs to his support of the recent firing of
BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer.
Hassett served in the first Trump administration as chairman of the
Council of Economic Advisers. He has a doctoral degree in economics
from the University of Pennsylvania and worked at the right-leaning
American Enterprise Institute before joining the Trump White House
in 2017.
As part of Hassett’s farewell announcement in 2019,
Trump called him a “true friend” who did a “great job.” Hassett
became a fellow at the Hoover Institution, which is located at
Stanford University. He later returned to the administration to help
deal with the pandemic.
On CNBC on Monday, Hassett said “all over the U.S. government, there
have been people who have been resisting Trump everywhere they can."
Kevin Warsh
A former Fed governor who stepped down in 2011, Warsh is currently a
fellow at the Hoover Institution. He has been supportive of cutting
interest rates, a key goal of Trump’s.
“The president’s right to be frustrated with Jay Powell and the
Federal Reserve,” Warsh said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures”
last month.
Warsh has been increasingly critical of Powell’s Federal Reserve and
in July, on CNBC, called for sweeping changes on how the Fed
conducts business as well as a new Treasury-Fed accord “like we did
in 1951, after another period where we built up our nation’s debt
and we were stuck with a central bank that was working at cross
purposes with the Treasury.”
He said the Fed’s “hesitancy to cut rates, I think, is actually
quite a mark against them.”
“The specter of the miss they made on inflation" after the pandemic,
he said, "it has stuck with them. So one of the reasons why the
president, I think, is right to be pushing the Fed publicly is we
need regime change in the conduct of policy.”
“He’s very highly thought of,” Trump said in June when asked
directly about Warsh.
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Associated Press writers Josh Boak and Christopher Rugaber in
Washington contributed to this report.
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