Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that President Trump is very close to making his selection for the next Federal Reserve chairman.
“My guess is the president will reach a decision maybe as soon as next week,” said Bessent during a CNBC interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “We’ve had substantial conversations about this. We’ve run a process that started in September — 11 very strong candidates. We’re now down to four candidates. The president has personally met with all of them, and it’s going to be his decision.”
Bessent did not identify the quartet of candidates, although it has been widely reported they are National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, former Fed Gov. Kevin Warsh, current Gov. Christopher Waller, and BlackRock executive Rick Rieder. However, Trump also stated he preferred to keep Hassett at the White House.
As for the current Fed chairman, Bessent voiced disapproval over Jerome Powell’s decision to attend the Supreme Court’s oral arguments on whether Trump can remove Fed Gov. Lisa Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud. Cook has not been criminally charged and denied the allegations that were generated by Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
“I actually think that’s a mistake,” Bessent said. “If you’re trying not to politicize the Fed, for the Fed chair to be sitting there trying to put his thumb on the scale, that’s a mistake.”
