National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, one of the top contenders to replace Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chair, downplayed any role that President Donald Trump’s opinion would have in setting interest rates.
That’s despite Trump repeatedly insisting that he ought to have some say on monetary policy. Most recently, he said Friday his voice should be heard because “I’ve made a lot of money.”
In an interview Sunday on CBS’ Face the Nation, Hassett said Trump has “very strong and well founded views” but pointed out that the Fed is independent, with the chairman tasked with driving consensus among other policymakers on the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee.
“But in the end, it’s a committee that votes,” he added. “And I’d be happy to talk to the president every day until both of us are dead because it’s so much fun to talk, even if I were Fed chair of if I wasn’t Fed chair.”
Hassett said he hopes Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor who is also being considered for the chairmanship, would talk to the president as well if he becomes Fed chief.
Trump told the Wall Street Journal on Friday that Warsh was at the top of his list and said “the two Kevins are great.”
The comment surprised Wall Street, which had overwhelming odds on Hassett as the favorite. On the prediction market Kalshi, the probability that he will be nominated as Fed chair has plunged to 50% from 80.6% earlier this month, while Warsh’s odds shot up to 41% from 11%.
Trump has said he will nominate a Fed chair in early 2026, with Powell’s term due to expire in May. Until then, the contenders have time to make their case. According to the Journal, Trump met Warsh on Wednesday at the White House and pressed him on whether he could be trusted to back rate cuts.
When asked on Sunday if Trump’s voice would have equal weighting to the voting members on the FOMC, Hassett replied, “no, he would have no weight.”
“His opinion matters if it’s good, if it’s based on data,” he explained. “And then if you go to the committee and you say, ‘well the president made this argument, and that’s a really sound argument, I think. What do you think?’ If they reject it, then they’ll vote in a different way.”
For his part, Hassett has regularly supported more easing and is one of Trump’s fiercest economic surrogates. But since joining Trump’s second administration, some of Hassett’s previous colleagues have expressed alarm over signs he’s serving more as a political loyalist.
He has become a regular presence on cable news, defending Trump’s policy priorities, downplaying unfavorable data, and echoing the White House line on everything from inflation to the legitimacy of federal statistics.
Meanwhile, the Fed’s early reappointment of its regional bank presidents eased concerns the central bank would soon lose its independence as Trump continues demanding steeper rate cuts.
That’s after the administration floated a district residency requirement for Fed presidents—an idea Hassett backed—raising fears it was seeking a wider leadership shake-up.
“If I’m reading this properly, they just Trump-proofed the Fed,” Justin Wolfers, a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan, wrote in a post on X about the reappointment announcement.
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