There is something irresistibly Trumpian about this saga. In November 2017, the President of the United States called the cameras into the Oval Office and designated, with the solemnity of a boss who has just recruited a collaborator, a certain Jerome Powell as head of the Federal Reserve. A moderate, discreet Republican, lawyer turned banker, the man has it all. Donald Trump beams. Less than two years later, the tone has already changed. The president gets annoyed, mocks the Fed for doing “nothing”, insults his name, then wonders: would Powell be a “worse enemy than Chinese President Xi Jinping” ? Powell, opponent of American growth!
The most astonishing scene took place in July 2025. Construction helmet on his head, Trump went to the Fed headquarters and questioned the management of the building’s renovation work. Since then, the president has increased his attacks, contesting Powell’s legitimacy and supporting his replacement. His choice fell on Kevin Warsh, former governor of the Fed, perceived as more compatible with his economic vision. The idea: finally get a central bank ready to loosen the monetary stranglehold and lower interest rates.
Except Warsh’s nomination doesn’t look like the formality Trump was hoping for. On Tuesday, in the Senate Banking Committee room, Warsh steps forward. Look like Cary Grant, 56 years old, 1.85 m, dark suit; “handsome guy”Trump said. A top-of-the-class CV. Half boy scout, half businessman. Stanford for economics, Harvard for law, then Morgan Stanley, where he cut his teeth in mergers and acquisitions. Before a stint in the White House under George W. Bush and an appointment in 2006 as governor of the Federal Reserve at barely 35 years old, one of the youngest in its history.
Married to Jane Lauder, heiress to the Estée Lauder cosmetics empire, Warsh belongs to this American aristocracy where great fortunes and senior servants of the State intersect. His personal wealth, estimated at more than $100 million according to his financial declarations and estimates by the American press, was quickly scrutinized in the Senate. In the United States, entrusting monetary policy – therefore the price of money and the valuation of assets – to a multi-millionaire from Wall Street raises recurring suspicions of a conflict of interest. Warsh attempted to defuse the controversy, promising to strictly comply with the Federal Reserve’s ethical rules, particularly regarding asset sales – a point that has become sensitive since the controversies that have affected several regional Fed officials in recent years. It is difficult to erase the image of a potential central banker whose fortune depends, at least indirectly, on the same financial mechanisms that he will be responsible for regulating.
Suspicions of conflict of interest weigh on Kevin Warsh
For several hours, it was another, more central suspicion that he wanted to dispel: no, he did not receive any instructions from the president on rates. He will not be a puppet. Opposite, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren is not convinced. And subjects him to a test, now a classic of the American left to validate nominations, by asking him if Trump had lost the 2020 election: “I need to gauge your independence and courage. » Warsh dodge: “We’re trying to keep policy, if I’m confirmed, out of the Fed. Senator, I believe this assembly certified this election several years ago. »
What follows is even more paradoxical. Trump chose a man who was supposed to ease monetary policy and here is Warsh explaining that he won’t do anything like that under pressure. He does not even commit to lowering rates, citing inflation that is still poorly controlled. Warsh speaks like a classic central banker. Almost like Powell! “The president never asked me to commit to a particular rate decision, and I would not have agreed if he had”he swears.
Very quickly, the hearing left the monetary field to shift into a more political duel. Because a ghost looms: that of the investigation targeting Powell. Senators keep coming back to it – this procedure born from a renovation project, already weakened by the justice system, but still brandished as a lever in this balance of power between the White House and the Federal Reserve. Republican Senator Thom Tillis, a potentially decisive voice, is explicit: he will block the nomination until the file is closed. Impossible to ratify a change at the head of the Fed. Especially since time is not necessarily on Trump’s side.
If his term as president ends in May, Powell could, however, remain on the board of governors until 2028. An improbable scenario just a few months ago: that of a former Fed boss still in office, observing his successor. A man that Trump has humiliated and who has no reason to be convenient.
