The race to succeed Jay Powell as Federal Reserve chair is starting to play out in the open as President Trump makes it increasingly clear he doesn’t like how the central bank is being run.
Two men considered by Fed watchers as possible candidates to eventually assume Powell’s seat have offered some pointed public views about the central bank, its mission, and its independence in the days and weeks after Trump ramped up his criticisms in mid-April.
The most critical comments came from former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, considered by many to be a frontrunner for the job when Powell’s term is up in May 2026.
He gave an April 25 speech in Washington, D.C., in which he said the Fed has strayed outside of its “remit” and that its “current wounds are largely self-inflicted.”
Warsh called for a “strategic reset” to ease a loss of credibility and damage to the Fed’s standing, underscoring that Fed independence is primarily up to the Fed.
He staunchly made the case for Fed independence, stressing, “I strongly believe in the operational independence of monetary policy as a wise political economy decision.”
But Warsh also said that “independence is reflexively declared, all too often in my view, when the Fed is criticized.”
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page later printed excerpts of Warsh’s remarks under the headline “The high cost of the Fed’s mission creep.”
Read more: How the Fed rate decision affects your bank accounts, loans, credit cards, and investments
Another current Fed official considered by some central bank watchers as a possible pick, Fed governor Chris Waller, also didn’t shy from the subject of Fed independence or the criticisms that fall on the person who has the top seat when asked about those topics in a recent interview.
“You take the job knowing you’re going to be criticized … if you don’t like to be criticized, don’t take the job,” he told Bloomberg during a television interview on April 24.
Waller said Trump’s criticism of the Fed wouldn’t influence how officials do their jobs and stressed that retaining Fed independence is crucial for whoever the next Fed chair is.
“Are they going to come in and keep the tradition of central bank independence, making policy in a nonpolitical way? For me, that’s critical … whoever the next chair is,” Waller said.
Trump last month stoked speculation he might fire Powell before his term is up in May 2026 after asserting on social media that “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough.”
The consideration roiled markets as investors worried that Trump was ready to upend the Fed’s leadership and directly challenge its independence. One White House official even confirmed that a firing was being studied.
But the president soon after offered an assurance he wouldn’t try to remove Powell.
That didn’t stop him from offering more criticisms, however.
This week, Trump once again went after the Fed and Powell on several occasions, saying Tuesday at a rally in Michigan that “I have a Fed person who is not really doing a good job.” On Wednesday, he said, “I have a guy in the Fed, not a huge fan … we should have interest rates go down and be positive.”
On Friday, Trump once again asked for the Fed to lower rates following a stronger-than-expected jobs report for April.
Powell will have a chance next week to respond to some of these comments at a Wednesday press conference following a Fed policy meeting.
The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at next week’s meeting as policymakers weigh risks to both inflation and full employment.
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