Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that a “formal process” to find a successor for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has already started — as the Trump administration ratchets up pressure for the top central banker to step aside before his term ends.
“There are a lot of great candidates and we’ll see how rapidly it progresses. It’s President Trump’s decision and it will move at his speed,” Bessent told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday.
Bessent, who is reportedly on the short list of possible replacements along with former Fed governor Kevin Warsh and National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, shot down the prospect of creating a “shadow” Fed chair before Powell’s term expires next May.
“There’s been a lot of talk of a shadow Fed chair causing confusion in advance of his or her nomination, and I can tell you, I think it would be very confusing for the market for a former Fed chair to stay on also,” Bessent said during the Bloomberg interview.
He fended off questions about whether he is being considered for a dual position to run the central bank and the Treasury Department.
“I think I have the best job in town. I will do what President Trump wants,” Bessent said.
“I am part of the decision-making process, but again, the final decision is gonna be President Trump’s.”
Powell, who was nominated during Trump’s first term in 2018 and reappointed by former President Biden, has maintainted that he has no intention of resigning.
Bessent reiterated that the White House is “not looking to fire” the Fed chair — despite Trump’s barrage of attacks on “Too Late” Powell for not slashing interest rates from their current range of 4.25% and 4.5%.
On Monday, Trump again called on Powell to cut interest rates, citing low inflation. He has said the rates should be below 1%.
“We have a bad Fed chairman, really bad,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday.
“I tried being nice to the guy. It doesn’t help. He’s like a knucklehead. Oh, he’s a knucklehead, a stupid guy. He really is.”
The administration has also zeroed on calls for a congressional probe over whether Powell lied to a Senate committee about the lavish $2.5 billion renovation at the Fed’s headquarters.
The Post exclusively reported in late April that the central bank was moving forward with the extensive makeover, which is more than $700 million over budget.
On Monday, Powell reportedly directed Inspector General Michael Horowitz to examine the costs of the renovations.
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