The Senate should move to advance Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Federal Reserve chairman, even as a federal criminal investigation into current chair Jerome Powell continues, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday.
Bessent, in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” said he believes after speaking this week to Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee that they “are going to proceed” with a nomination hearing.
“I think it’s important to get the hearings underway, and I think we have an agreement to do that,” he said.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has vowed to block Warsh’s nomination from moving through the Banking Committee unless the Department of Justice drops its probe into Powell.
Trump, however, has said the criminal probe, led by U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, should continue to the end, setting up a potential impasse. Powell, whom Trump appointed during his first term, has declined to raise interest rates as much as the administration has urged him to do.
