Kevin Hassett, a top economic adviser to President Donald Trump, is emerging in the pole position to replace Jerome H. Powell as head of the Federal Reserve, as the succession race enters a final phase.
Trump, who has made no secret of his desire for dramatically lower interest rates, is expected in the coming weeks to name his preferred pick to replace Powell, whose tenure as chair expires in May. The president has signaled that he knows whom he plans to name for the job, though he is expected to conduct final interviews with candidates this week, according to the Financial Times.
The leading candidate appears to be Hassett, who heads the White House National Economic Council and was a key economic adviser during Trump’s first term, according to two people familiar with the process.
The White House declined to comment, saying only that the president makes the ultimate decision.
“Personnel decisions to be made by President Trump will be announced directly by President Trump himself. Any discussion until then is pointless speculation,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said.
Trump has said that he has already made up his mind, a point he reiterated Tuesday when asked about the choice. “We’re going to be looking at a couple of different people, but I have a pretty good idea of who I want,” he said aboard Air Force One. The Financial Times earlier reported the interviews.
Hassett’s appointment would cap a months-long “Apprentice”-style process of selecting Powell’s successor, involving roughly a dozen people enlisted to help echo the White House’s desire for lower interest rates. Several of those allies have publicly argued that the Fed has kept rates too high for too long under Powell and should move more aggressively to support growth, even with inflation still above the central bank’s target.
The other candidates include Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor who was a runner-up for the top job during Trump’s first term; Christopher Waller, a sitting Fed governor; and Rick Rieder of the asset manager BlackRock. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is leading the selection process but has said he isn’t interested in the Fed job.
The next chair is likely to face intense scrutiny from financial markets and within the Fed itself, as officials gauge whether political loyalty might come at the expense of the central bank’s credibility in fighting inflation. Trump told Politico in an interview released this week that support for aggressive rate cuts is a litmus test for whomever he taps to succeed Powell.
Hassett has a close relationship with Trumpand has worked for him for roughly a decade, making him one of the few advisers who has stayed in Trump’s good graces. After holding two roles in the first Trump administration, Hassett joined a private-equity firm started by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and advised Trump on economic policy during the 2024 presidential campaign.
That history, combined with Hassett’s academic credentials and deep ties in conservative economic circles, helped elevate his standing among Trump allies pressing for change at the Fed. He is also seen as an effective media surrogate, a trait Trump has long valued in his top appointees.
Powell steered the U.S. economy through the 2020 pandemic and later moved aggressively to curb inflation, which briefly reached a 40-year high and has yet to fully return to the low levels seen in the decades leading up to 2020.
Hassett has expressed regard for Powell but says they have sharp policy disagreements, including what he described as the Fed’s unduly slow rate-cutting pace this year.
“The president thinks rates could be a lot lower, and I agree with him,” he said Nov. 12 in an interview hosted by the Economic Club of Washington.
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