Trump Nominates Kevin Warsh For Fed Chair

President Donald Trump announced Friday the nomination of Kevin Warsh for Federal Reserve Chairman.

The Details: Trump said on Truth Social, "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. On top of everything else, he is "central casting," and he will never let you down. Congratulations Kevin!" Warsh will be required to undergo Senate confirmation for the position, and if successful, will replace the current Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell when his term expires in May.

For Context: Warsh graduated from Stanford with a degree in Public Policy, and from Harvard with a law degree before working at Morgan Stanley as a Wall Street banker. In 2002, Warsh became a part of former-President George W. Bush's inner circle of economic-policy advisors and was nominated by Bush in 2006 to join the Federal Reserve as a governor. Warsh was known as the youngest Federal Reserve governor, and soon after joining the board played a part in the 2008 financial crisis by helping with the government bailout of the major insurer AIG. Warsh left the board of governors in 2011 and joined Stanford University's Hoover Institution as a research fellow. Warsh has been a critic of current Federal Reserve policies and the size of the Reserve's financial holdings, saying "Economic growth in the U.S. is poised to boom, but it's being held down by bad economic policies coming from the central bank." Warsh also said in July, that "inflation is a choice," and while the reasons given for it according to Warsh are things like Putin and Ukraine, the pandemic and supply chains, Warsh asserted that it is actually a decision of the central bank and "the idea that is they should be blaming someone else strikes me as quite antithetical to good economic history." Trump has been critical over Powell's decisions to hold the benchmark rates at 4.25% to 4.5%, expressing concern over the President's sweeping tariffs. Powell is currently under criminal investigation regarding alleged mismanagement of funds for renovations of Federal Reserve buildings, although the DOJ has faced criticisms over the investigation and two Republican Senators have vowed to block Trump's Fed nominations until the investigation is resolved.

How The Media Covered It: Some outlets on the left, like Politico (Lean Left bias) highlighted Trump "relentlessly" attacking the Federal Reserve for failing to cut interest rates and said his nomination of Warsh "represents Trump's most consequential economic policy appointment of his second term and the culmination of the president's drive to gain more influence over the central bank." CNN (Lean Left) decided to publish an article in the form of a resume for Warsh, listing his past experiences and highlighting that he has been "a long-time Trump ally." Outlets on the right, like Fox business (Lean Right) mentioned that "Warsh has consistently criticized Fed leadership" and said "the move comes at a turbulent moment for the Federal Reserve" while referencing the criminal probe into Powell and the Supreme Court's weighing in on the limits on the Fed's independence. The National Desk (Right) highlighted what they called similarities between Trump and Warsh, saying they both have called for "regime change" within the Fed and have been critical of Powell "for engaging on issues like climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion."        

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