President Trump’s search for a successor to Jerome Powell at the Federal Reserve is getting louder as candidates compete to criticize the central bank publicly and more options for how to fill that seat emerge.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday night that National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett is now a serious contender for the job. He has talked to Trump about it twice in June and reportedly said he would take the job if asked.
One option that has been discussed, according to the Wall Street Journal, is that Hassett first gets appointed to fill a new 14-year Fed board seat that opens up with the scheduled departure of Fed governor Adriana Kugler on Jan. 31.
Then Trump can decide if he wants to appoint Hassett — or another Fed governor, such as Christopher Waller — to be chair when Powell’s chairmanship is up next May.
At the same time, other candidates, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, are also making their views of the Fed more public.
Warsh just this week talked with Fox Business about “bad economic policies coming from the central bank.” Bessent has spent recent weeks unfurling a string of criticisms about the Fed while not denying being among the candidates to eventually take Powell’s seat.
Read more: How much control does the president have over the Fed and interest rates?
In TV interviews last week, he compared the Fed to an old person who is afraid of falling after having stumbled once and said, “I guess this tariff derangement syndrome happens even over at the Fed,” referring to concerns Powell and other Fed officials have voiced about inflation from Trump’s tariffs.
One possibility that has surfaced in media reports is Bessent serving as both Treasury secretary and Fed chair at the same time — a scenario that has been floated within the White House, according to Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal.
There is historical precedent for such an arrangement. The Treasury secretary presided over all Fed board meetings from the central bank’s founding in 1913 until 1935. That year, the Federal Reserve Act was amended during President Roosevelt’s reign to remove the Treasury secretary as a member of the Fed board.
In a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump looked at Bessent after delivering a series of critical comments about Powell and said, “I like you better.”
Trump has not been explicit publicly about his choices except to tell reporters last week, “I have two or three top choices.” That came roughly a week after saying, “I know within three or four people who I’m going to pick.”
Wednesday morning he posted a message to Truth Social stating “ANYBODY BUT ‘TOO LATE'” — a reference to the nickname Trump has been using to describe Powell.
He also repeated his call for the Fed to lower rates, saying the current rate is “at least” 3 points too high. Powell has irked Trump with his stance that rates should remain steady until there is more clarity about how Trump’s tariffs will affect inflation.
It is clear the administration hopes Powell will also leave the Fed board of governors when his term as chair is up, which would allow the White House to appoint a second person to that body.
Powell’s term as a member of the board of governors does not expire until 2028. He has not said whether he intends to remain through the end of his term.
“We get to hopefully fill two seats next year,” Bessent said last week in an interview with Fox.
Bessent told CNBC this week that he still has breakfast with Powell once a week. “We have very lively and far-reaching discussions,” he said. “A lot of mutual respect.”
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