President Donald Trump has set up a battle of the Kevins in the race to succeed Jerome Powell as Fed chair in 2026.
“I think you have Kevin and Kevin,” Trump, 79, told The Wall Street Journal on Friday. “They’re both—I think the two Kevins are great. I think there are a couple of other people that are great.”
Trump was referring to former member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors Kevin Warsh and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett in his comment.
Hassett, 63, has long been seen as the presumptive frontrunner to take the gig once Jerome Powell’s term ends next year. The Trump loyalist has regularly appeared on television to defend Trump’s economy and bash the Fed under Powell.
Warsh, a 55-year-old former economic adviser for George W. Bush and former Fed governor, was a candidate for the gig in 2017, when Trump first appointed Powell. He has not been as public-facing as others on Trump’s shortlist. However, like Hasset, he has criticized Powell’s leadership of the Fed. In November, he published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal saying the Fed had lost its way.
Trump told the Journal that Warsh supports cutting interest rates. The president had publicly soured on Powell and threatened to fire him for months because he didn’t slash interest rates quickly enough for the president’s liking.
“I think I have somebody that I like the best,” said Trump, who was thought to have made up his mind about hiring the new Fed chair before Friday’s Journal interview.
“I like all of them, but I want to be careful because I was given a bad recommendation,” he added. In 2017, Trump selected Powell on the advice of then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Trump also insisted that the next Fed chair consult with him on interest rates.
“Typically, that’s not done anymore. It used to be done routinely. It should be done,” Trump said. “It doesn’t mean—I don’t think he should do exactly what we say. But certainly we’re—I’m a smart voice and should be listened to.”
Trump dreams that his next Fed chair would get the interest rate down to 1 percent, which he believes would help the Treasury Department reduce the costs of financing the government’s $30 trillion debt. This week, the Fed cut its interest rate by a quarter point to 3.5 percent.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
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