Bessent lists Fed chair finalists, Trump says decision by end of year

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday confirmed that the list of candidates to replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has been winnowed down to five, and President Donald Trump said the replacement is likely to be named by the end of the year.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Bessent said the finalists are current Fed Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, and BlackRock executive Rick Rieder, according to several media outlets.

Those names were reported earlier this month by CNBC.

Bessent, who had been rumored to be a top candidate as well, said he has been conducting interviews and that he expects to do one more round before presenting a “good slate” to Trump after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Trump, also speaking to reporters Monday on Air Force One, said he anticipates naming a replacement by the end of the year. Powell’s term doesn’t expire until May. Powell then can either step down from the Fed entirely or continue serving a term as governor that lasts until 2028.

The Federal Open Market Committee meets this week, with an interest rate decision due Wednesday. Markets are pricing in a near certainty that the committee will lower its benchmark overnight borrowing rate by a quarter percentage point, which would follow a similar cut in September.

Trump has three appointees on the seven-member board of governors: Waller and Bowman, as well as Stephen Miran, who is filling an unexpired term that ends in January. Miran, who was confirmed in September as the head of the Council of Economic Advisers, is not expected to be reappointed. He has campaigned for the FOMC to be more aggressive in easing.

Should Powell opt to leave the Fed, that would give Trump four appointees. Trump thus far has been unsuccessful in trying to remove Governor Lisa Cook from the board. A rotating cast of five regional presidents joins the governors as voters during the FOMC meeting.