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Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to chair the Federal Reserve, used his Senate Banking Committee appearance Tuesday to reject the idea that he would carry out the White House’s preferred rate cuts. Under questioning, Warsh said he never promised the Trump administration a commitment to any particular interest-rate decision and argued that, if confirmed, he would act independently as Fed chair.
Warsh made the remarks after Trump renewed public calls for the central bank to cut interest rates, including in response to a question on CNBC about what he would do if Warsh did not immediately cut rates. In the committee hearing, Warsh said, “The president never once asked me to commit to any particular interest rate decision, period,” and added, “Nor would I ever agree to do so if he had. … I will be an independent actor if confirmed as chair of the Federal Reserve.”
Democrats said Warsh’s past positions on interest rates show political or ideological inconsistency. They accused him of supporting higher rates under Democratic presidents while advocating rate cuts during Trump’s term, and they pressed him on how he would handle a conflict between presidential demands and inflation that remains above the Fed’s comfort zone.
Sen. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, challenged Warsh with a claim that Wall Street Journal reporting last year found Trump had urged Warsh to reduce borrowing costs. Gallego asked the committee what he described as conflicting accounts between Warsh and the president; Warsh responded, “I think those reporters need better sources.”
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis reiterated that he would not vote for Warsh until a Justice Department investigation affecting Powell is dropped. Tillis said “We have got to get rid of this investigation,” so “I can support your nomination,” with the hearing occurring amid a committee split and Democrats opposing the nomination as presented.
The legal backdrop is tied to a Justice Department investigation into Jerome Powell’s testimony last June before the same committee, a probe that has delayed Warsh’s nomination. The hearing also revisited the case’s earlier procedural disputes, including that a judge had thrown out subpoenas issued by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeannine Pirro and that federal prosecutors have sought access to the Fed’s building project but were turned away.
Warsh also set out an inflation-focused policy stance for his prospective tenure. In opening remarks, he told senators that one of his top goals would be to fight inflation, describing it as elevated at 3.3% annually, and he said, “Congress tasked the Fed with the mission to ensure price stability, without excuse or equivocation, argument or anguish.”
In responding to concerns about the Fed’s independence, Warsh told lawmakers that political independence is “essential,” and he said the central bank had not been threatened when elected officials—presidents, senators, or House members—state their views on interest rates. Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly urged Powell to cut the Fed’s key rate from its current level of about 3.6% to as low as 1%, a view economists largely do not share, according to the Associated Press account.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Trump has not just expressed opinions on rates, but instead sought to fire a Fed governor and has been investigating Powell. Warren also said Warsh had not fully disclosed his financial holdings and questioned whether he was in compliance with ethics requirements, adding that Warsh had holdings in start-ups and private companies and had disclosed some investments, such as in SpaceX and Polymarket, without specifying their size. Warsh said the Office of Government Ethics has signed off on his plan to sell his assets within 90 days of confirmation.
The hearing’s timing raised additional questions about transition and continuity. Powell’s term as chair ends May 15, and he has said he would remain chair until a successor is named; Powell’s term as a member of the Fed’s governing board runs until January 2028, and he has said he would remain on that board even if a new chair is approved until the investigation is dropped. Trump has said he would fire Powell if Powell tried to remain at the Fed, and the Associated Press reported that Trump’s earlier attempt to remove a governor, Lisa Cook, has been tied up in court, with the Supreme Court’s consideration of that dispute still ongoing.