President Donald Trump announced Friday his selection of Kevin Warsh to lead the Federal Reserve, bringing an end to a contentious search that lasted five months and has sparked unprecedented controversy surrounding America’s central bank.
The nomination caps a selection process that formally launched last summer but traces its roots much further back, with Trump criticizing Jerome Powell’s leadership of the Fed almost continuously since Powell assumed the chairmanship in 2018.
“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,” Trump stated in a Truth Social post revealing his choice.
Warsh, age 55, brings previous Federal Reserve experience that financial markets view favorably, with analysts suggesting his appointment likely will not create significant market disruption because Wall Street believes he will maintain independence from presidential influence.
David Bahnsen, chief investment officer of The Bahnsen Group, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that Warsh commands respect and credibility within financial markets.
“There was no person who was going to get this job who wasn’t going to be cutting rates in the short term. However, I believe longer term he will be a credible candidate,” Bahnsen noted.
Throughout Powell’s tenure beginning with his 2018 confirmation during Trump’s first administration, the president has continuously pressured Fed policymakers to implement aggressive interest rate cuts.
Despite three consecutive rate reductions in late 2025, Trump maintained his criticism, demanding lower rates while also attacking Powell over excessive spending on the Federal Reserve’s extensive Washington headquarters renovation project.
Warsh himself advocated for leadership changes at the Fed during a CNBC interview last summer, calling for “regime change” at the institution.
“The credibility deficit lies with the incumbents that are at the Fed, in my view,” Warsh declared in the July interview, a stance that could position him adversarially within an organization that relies heavily on consensus-building for implementing policy decisions.
Earlier this month, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) issued a stark warning vowing to block all future Federal Reserve nominees until a criminal investigation into Powell is resolved.
The North Carolina lawmaker called the Justice Department probe “unprecedented” and raised alarms about threats to the independence of both institutions, Resist the Mainstream reported.
At the time, the Fed chairman characterized the investigation as part of a broader pressure campaign linked to the administration’s dissatisfaction with the central bank’s interest rate policies.
Trump addressed the investigation while simultaneously criticizing Powell’s performance, telling reporters he knew nothing about the probe but adding that Powell is “certainly not very good at the Fed, and he’s not very good at building buildings.”
Back in August, Trump accused Powell of gross mismanagement of an expensive renovation project at the Federal Reserve building and threatening a major lawsuit.
The president said the renovation costs had ballooned to $3 billion, a massive increase from the initial estimate of $50 million.
Since then, the renovation itself has become a political lightning rod; one that has attracted bipartisan scrutiny as costs reportedly soared to around $2.5 billion.
Critics, including Trump and his allies, have questioned whether all regulatory requirements were properly followed during the project.
