President Donald Trump plans to meet with advisers on Wednesday regarding an unexpected public seat on the Fed's board of directors, a person familiar with the matter said.
Trump, who is critical of the Fed's interest rate decision, received surprising news last week when incumbent Fed Governor Adriana Kugler announced that she would leave her position this weekend and the White House is moving quickly to finalize her replacement.
For Trump, he is weighing his draft picks to replace Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, whose term leads the Central Bank to end next May, the opening ceremony provides an early opportunity to add an additional draft pick to the board to match his desire to lower interest rates immediately.
Kugler's term is scheduled to end in January, with White House officials already discussing the looming opening before the Biden nominee announced the news. Now, Trump is weighing whether to choose a nominee to simply fill the last few months of Coogler's term, or to complete the term after January.
“I will make a decision by this weekend,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday.
Trump doesn't seem ready to replace his draft pick, even as he told reporters on Tuesday that his roster dropped to four. Trump said the group includes Kevin Hassett, the current White House National Economic Commission director, and former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh. He declined to name the other two candidates, but officials told CNN's current federal governor Christopher Waller was on the list.
However, the official selection process for choosing the next Fed chairman still seems to be at a relatively early stage.
“I'm reviewing the president for the president, the chief of staff,” Finance Secretary Scott Bessent said on CNBC last week before announcing the news in Kugler. “We're going to interview people, so I hope we can announce it by the end of this year.”
Trump told reporters that Bessent, who was considered the candidate to replace Powell, removed his name from the dispute and intended to stay with the Treasury Department.
Trump may inspire Trump to choose a short-term replacement, allowing Kugler to use the open seat in January so he can plan to choose a chairperson. The Fed chairman must be a member of the Fed committee, even if Powell's chairman ends next year, his term as governor will not end until 2028.
White House officials said they don't want Powell to go far beyond his chairman, but Powell refused to answer questions about his plans.
Kugler publicly stated that he did not believe that tax cuts should be imminent, and he will officially serve on the last day of the Fed on August 8.