President Donald Trump is weighing a plan to expand the White House’s sway inside the Federal Reserve by targeting how its 12 regional bank presidents are picked and reappointed, according to a report.
The move, first reported by Bloomberg News, could allow the administration to influence who sits on the Fed’s powerful policy-setting committee, a step critics warn would threaten the central bank’s independence.
Trump’s team is reviewing several options, including scrutinizing how regional presidents are vetted since they are not Senate-confirmed, Bloomberg News reported.
The White House is also considering a move aimed at using a rare five-year review scheduled for February to reshape the roster that officials see as too hawkish, according to the report.
Another option being considered is steering candidates passed over for Fed chair into regional presidencies, people familiar with the effort told Bloomberg News.
Unlike the governors, regional presidents aren’t nominated by the White House or confirmed by the Senate. They’re selected through a mix of local directors and the Fed’s board.
Trump aides are now targeting that process as their next pressure point, Bloomberg reported.
“This White House is turning over every stone to see where the levers are to change the Fed,” Derek Tang, an economist at LHMeyer/Monetary Policy Analytics, told the outlet.
The Fed’s Board of Governors is due to sign off on the current roster of regional presidents in February.
Trump allies believe that once he secures a majority on the board, they could use that vote to push out officials seen as too hawkish.
Former Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard blasted the effort as an “unprecedented attack on the independence of the Federal Reserve” that could fuel inflation and drive up long-term interest rates.
Trump has battled with the Fed since returning to the White House, pounding Chairman Jerome Powell to slash rates even as the central bank has held steady to counter inflationary pressure from the president’s tariffs.
Powell’s term expires in May, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is interviewing candidates to replace him.
Critics say the campaign is part of a broader Trump play to pack independent agencies with loyalists, echoing his reshaping of the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
At a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Trump made no apologies for his tactics.
“That will be great once we have a majority, and housing is going to swing, and it’s going to be great,” the president said. “People are paying too high an interest rate.”
The Post has sought comment from the White House and the Fed.
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