Category: Jerome Powell
Trump picks ‘numbskull’ Powell’s replacement for Fed chair
President Donald Trump has officially selected Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s successor.
Trump nominated Kevin Warsh for the role, noting the financier’s extensive experience, including his former role as a governor on the board of the Federal Reserve. At the time of Warsh’s appointment to the board in 2006, he was 35, the youngest appointee to serve, Trump claimed.
This announcement comes after a longtime feud between ‘numbskull’ Powell and the president.
Warsh is set to replace Powell in May after Powell’s term officially ends.
“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 said in a Truth Social post Friday. “On top of everything else, he is ‘central casting,’ and he will never let you down.”
RELATED: Fed Chairman Jerome Powell fears criminal indictment as Trump-Fed confrontation intensifies
Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images
This announcement comes after a longtime feud between “numbskull” Powell and the president, with Trump often criticizing Powell’s refusal to cut interest rates.
This conflict came to a fever pitch when Trump’s Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation into Powell over his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee in June 2025, when he discussed the ballooning cost of renovation to the Fed headquarters.
In a statement following the subpoena, Powell claimed the investigation was actually a political response to “whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions — nor whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.”
Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Trump was originally considering National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett for the role, but later suggested he would pick someone else because he wanted to keep Hassett in his position.
“[There] 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,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
“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!”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
‘INCOMPETENT OR STUPID’: Trump Weighs in On Powell Probe, ‘He’s Billions of Dollars Over Budget’ [WATCH]
![‘INCOMPETENT OR STUPID’: Trump Weighs in On Powell Probe, ‘He’s Billions of Dollars Over Budget’ [WATCH]](https://hannity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/GettyImages-2226866943-300x200.jpg "President Trump Visits Federal Reserve")
President Donald Trump labeled Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as “incompetent” or “crooked” in the latest escalation of his war with the head of the central bank.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell fears criminal indictment as Trump-Fed confrontation intensifies
In the latest escalation between the Trump administration and the Federal Reserve, the Department of Justice has issued grand jury subpoenas against the Fed, according to Chairman Jerome Powell.
On Sunday, the official Federal Reserve X account posted a video of Powell explaining the subpoenas and claiming that the DOJ was “threatening a criminal indictment related to my testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last June.”
‘The cost overruns are what they are.’
“That testimony concerned in part a multiyear project to renovate historic Federal Reserve office buildings,” Powell added.
In the video, Powell shows no sign of capitulating to President Trump’s calls to lower interest rates, dismissing these calls as merely the “preferences of the president”: “This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions, or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.”
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
“I have served at the Federal Reserve under four administrations, Republicans and Democrats alike. In every case, I have carried out my duties without political fear or favor, focused solely on our mandate of price stability and maximum employment,” Powell said. “Public service sometimes requires standing firm in the face of threats. I will continue to do the job the Senate confirmed me to do, with integrity and a commitment to serving the American people.”
Powell said that the subpoenas were served last Friday.
During his testimony in June, Powell was asked about the cost of the renovations around the 36-minute mark of the hearing. He began by saying, “We do take seriously our responsibility as stewards of the public’s money,” but concluded, “The cost overruns are what they are.”
He also denied several of what he said were media inaccuracies, including reports of “special elevators,” new marble, “roof terrace gardens,” and “beehives.”
In a rare confrontation with Powell, President Trump, wearing a hard hat, visited the construction site in late July to challenge him on the “overruns.” Powell said he was “unaware” of the new numbers Trump presented to him.
Days before the July confrontation between Powell and Trump, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) sent a criminal referral for Powell to the Department of Justice.
On Sunday evening, Luna responded to the news of the grand jury subpoenas, repeating her allegations against Powell: “It’s good to see my criminal referral working in real time. You CANNOT lie to Congress. That is called PERJURY.”
No criminal charges have been brought against Powell at the time of writing.
The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Sen. Thom Tillis Vows To Block All Fed Nominees After DOJ Probe Into Jerome Powell
‘is now the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice that are in question’
‘My new Fed Chairman’: Trump hints at major changes coming to Federal Reserve amid great economic report
On the strength of a very positive economic report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, President Trump announced on Truth Social his future plans for the economy — and these plans may not include the current chairman of the Federal Reserve.
On Tuesday morning, Trump introduced and explained “the Trump Rule” when it comes to the economy.
‘Anybody that disagrees with me will never be the Fed Chairman!’
Trump started his post by explaining how markets have changed in response to good financial news, like the news received Tuesday. Rather than rallying as they have in the past, markets go down, he explained, in anticipation of interest rates increasing to offset “potential” inflation.
Trump continued, “That means that, essentially, we can never have a Great Market again, those Markets from the time when our Nation was building up, and becoming great. Strong Markets, even phenomenal Markets, don’t cause Inflation, stupidity does!”
RELATED: Market soars after Fed finally cuts interest rate
Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Trump then hinted at a possible development coming to the Fed leadership: “I want my new Fed Chairman to lower Interest Rates if the Market is doing well, not destroy the Market for no reason whatsoever.”
Trump stated that he will no longer tolerate obstructionists making economic greatness impossible: “A Nation can never be Economically GREAT if ‘eggheads’ are allowed to do everything within their power to destroy the upward slope.”
He added that America will “see numbers that are far more natural, and far better, than they have ever been before.”
“Anybody that disagrees with me will never be the Fed Chairman!” Trump concluded.
The delayed economic report states that “Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 4.3 percent in the third quarter of 2025 (July, August, and September), according to the initial estimate released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 3.8 percent.”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Federal Reserve obliges Trump, cuts interest rates for the third time this year
In a move championed by President Donald Trump, the Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by 0.25% to a range of 3.5% to 3.75% on Wednesday, the third cut this year, lowering borrowing costs and giving some lift to a flagging job market.
Only three members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors voted against the cut: Stephen Miran, who wanted to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 0.5%, and Austan Goolsbee and Jeffrey Schmid, who both figured it was presently best not to have any cuts at all.
‘Available indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding at a moderate pace.’
Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist for the financial services firm RSM US, noted in a Tuesday analysis that the Fed was faced with the “difficult choice of either aggressively fighting inflation or hoping to revive a sluggish labor market and slowing economic activity when it meets on Tuesday and Wednesday.”
Rate cuts can help boost the stock market — encouraging spending, investing, and business activity by lowering savings rate and borrowing costs. However, by increasing the supply of money, they can also exacerbate inflation.
The annual inflation rate was around 3% for the 12 months ending September, according to U.S. Labor Department data. The Fed’s inflation target is 2% over the longer run — hence the resistance to another cut by some policymakers.
“The [Federal Open Market Committee] seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run. Uncertainty about the economic outlook remains elevated,” the Fed said in a statement on Wednesday. “The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate and judges that downside risks to employment rose in recent months.”
In light of its goals and “the shift in the balance of risks,” the FOMC determined that a drop in the rate by 0.25% was worthwhile.
“Available indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding at a moderate pace. Job gains have slowed this year, and the unemployment rate has edged up through September,” the Fed noted further. “Inflation has moved up since earlier in the year and remains somewhat elevated.”
The rate-cut decision on Wednesday comes months after the Fed similarly lowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points in September to a range of 4% to 4.25%, and after weeks of disagreement on the central bank’s 12-member policy committee regarding the prudent way forward.
Chris Brigati, chief investment officer at the financial services company SWBC, told the Financial Post ahead of the announcement that the Federal Reserve was divided on how to proceed with rate cuts in 2026 “given the delicate balance between job market weakness and still-elevated inflation.”
“There is also uncertainty about the new Fed chair, and that may also add to the central bank’s reluctance to make any major rate moves in the months leading up to Chair Powell’s term ending,” Brigati added.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Image
In search of someone suitable to replace Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May, the president has been interviewing various candidates, including Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, both members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors; former Fed governor Kevin Warsh; and BlackRock fixed-income chief Rick Rieder. Top White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett is, however, reportedly regarded as the frontrunner.
The president told reporters on Air Force One on Tuesday, “We’re going to be looking at a couple of different people, but I have a pretty good idea who I want.”
When asked in his interview with Politico the previous day whether it is “a litmus test that the new chair lower interest rates immediately,” Trump said yes and noted, “We’re fighting through interest rates.”
The Federal Reserve also released on Wednesday its regional bank presidents and governors’ quarterly set of economic projections. They anticipate a rise in the unemployment rate from 4.4% in September to 4.5% by year’s end; the GDP to grow by 2.3% in 2026; and inflation to sink, but nowhere below their 2% target.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
FED UP: Bessent Says ‘Very Good Chance’ Trump Names Powell Successor By Christmas [WATCH]
![FED UP: Bessent Says ‘Very Good Chance’ Trump Names Powell Successor By Christmas [WATCH]](https://hannity.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/GettyImages-2214095040-300x200.jpg "SWITZERLAND-US-CHINA-DIPLOMACY-TARIFF-TRADE")
President Trump may name a replacement for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell before Christmas, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday.
