President Donald Trump on Friday said his top three contenders to lead the Federal Reserve when Jerome Powell’s term as chairman ends next May are Kevin Hassett, Kevin Warsh, and Christopher Waller, signaling a major shift ahead for the central bank as the economy shows signs of slowing, The Hill reported.
Trump confirmed the short list in an exchange with a Bloomberg News reporter, who asked if Hassett, head of the White House National Economic Council; Warsh, a former Fed governor; and Waller, a Fed board member and economics professor, were the leading names.
“Yeah, I would say you could say those are the top three,” Trump replied. “Good job.”
The remark comes after months of speculation about Powell’s future.
Trump has openly criticized Powell, pressing him to reduce interest rates more aggressively. Some of the president’s allies have gone further, seeking ways to remove the chairman altogether.
The potential shake-up does not stop there. Trump has also fired Fed Governor Lisa Cook, who has resisted efforts to oust her. The move gives the president another opportunity to have a like-minded policymaker at the central bank.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, once considered for the chairmanship, has been ruled out. Trump said Bessent is content in his current role.
The jockeying for Fed leadership comes as new data shows the U.S. labor market is slowing. The Labor Department reported Friday that businesses added just 22,000 jobs in August, marking the fourth straight weak report. June’s numbers were revised downward to a net loss of 13,000 jobs, the first monthly decline since December 2020.
Unemployment ticked up to 4.3%, the highest level in four years, further underscoring the economic challenges.
Those figures may bolster the case for the Fed to cut rates sharply this year.
Longer-term bond yields, which help set mortgage rates, also fell on the news, offering a potential silver lining for the White House as it seeks to move the economy forward.
The central bank has been cautious in recent months, holding off on cuts as it studies the impact of tariffs on both prices and growth. Powell signaled last month, however, that the Fed is now more concerned about weakness in the labor market than about tariff-driven inflation.
That shift has fueled expectations that policymakers will move to reduce rates in September. When Trump selects a new chair aligned with his push for lower interest rates, the Fed’s approach could change dramatically in 2026.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
