After months of speculation and political intrigue, President Donald Trump is close to nominating the next chair of the Federal Reserve, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday.
The president has whittled down the field to four candidates to succeed current Chair Jerome Powell and a decision is forthcoming, Bessent told CNBC during an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“My guess is the president will reach a decision maybe as soon as next week,” he said during the “Squawk Box” interview. “We’ve had substantial conversations about this. We’ve run a process that started in September — 11 very strong candidates. We’re now down to four candidates. The president has personally met with all of them, and it’s going to be his decision.”
Bessent did not name the four finalists, though previous comments have indicated a field of five that included National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, current Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman and BlackRock’s chief fixed income strategist, Rick Rieder.
Prediction markets have honed in on Hassett, Warsh and Waller, though White House officials have said Rieder also met with Trump, and he has gotten more interest. Recently, Warsh has become the front-runner on Kalshi, with Rieder and Waller trailing, following comments from Trump that he’d prefer Hassett stay in his current role.
Bessent has run the screening process but did not indicate a personal preference.
White House officials including Trump and the Treasury secretary have regularly criticized Powell both for his stewardship of monetary policy and setting of interest rates, as well as the way he has run the institution in general. Recent developments have seen the Justice Department subpoena Powell relating to the renovation project at Fed headquarters.
Trump nominated Powell for the position in 2017, and former President Joe Biden reappointed him.
“Look, I think the Fed’s monetary policy independence is very important. I think that a lot of the issues around the independence are being created by the other things that are happening,” Bessent said. “Under Chair Powell’s watch, we will have seen between four to six governors and presidents have to resign for ethical issues. That’s out of 19. If that happened at a Wall Street firm, the CEO would be out.”
Multiple Fed officials, and most recently Governor Adriana Kugler, either have retired or resigned after running afoul of ethics guidelines on investing.
“The independence does not mean lack of accountability. The Fed has a special obligation to the American people because it influences their lives,” Bessent said.
Though Powell’s chair term runs out in May, he will have the option to stay on as governor until 2028.
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