Trump names Hassett, Warsh and Waller as top three finalists for Fed chair

By Josh Wingrove

 

President Donald Trump said he saw White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller and former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh as the finalists to replace the central bank’s chair, Jerome Powell. 

“You could say those are the top three,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

 

Earlier, Trump indicated that while he had some idea of who he wanted to pick for the position, he was committed to an interview process.  

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was thought to be a contender for the job before removing himself from consideration, is organizing the search and reiterated Friday that he wasn’t interested in the position.

 

“I’m the only person on the planet who does not want the job,” Bessent said. 

 

The timetable for selecting a successor to Powell, whose term as chair expires in May, remains unclear. Bessent told the Wall Street Journal earlier this week he would begin interviewing candidates on Friday. On Wednesday, Waller said he hadn’t yet been scheduled for an interview for the post. That followed Hassett’s comment on Aug. 25 that Trump’s decision on the matter remained “another few months” away.

 

The chair selection drama continues as Fed officials moved closer to lowering interest rates after holding their benchmark steady since December. Powell signaled in late August that risks to the labor market were becoming more prominent than inflation worries. 

 

On Friday, another weak employment report prompted investors to increase the odds of a rate cut at the Fed’s Sept. 16-17 meeting to more than 100 per cent.

 

Trump has regularly ridiculed Powell for leaving interest rates unchanged this year, and on Friday blamed inaction by the central bank for the disappointing August jobs report. He has previously urged Powell to step down and said he will not renominate the Fed chief when his term as chair ends.