Treasury Secretary Bessent says short list for next Fed chair is down to 5 Jennifer SchonbergerOctober 27, 2025 at 11:15 PM 1 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent affirmed Monday that the list of candidates to become the next Federal Reserve chair has been whittled down to five finalists.
- - Treasury Secretary Bessent says short list for next Fed chair is down to 5
Jennifer SchonbergerOctober 27, 2025 at 11:15 PM
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent affirmed Monday that the list of candidates to become the next Federal Reserve chair has been whittled down to five finalists.
"We're down to five. … We're going to do a second round and we hope to present a good slate to the president right after Thanksgiving," Bessent told reporters alongside President Trump aboard Air Force One. "It will ultimately be his choice."
The five people include former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, and current Fed governor Chris Waller — three names previously mentioned by Trump, who will make the final decision.
The two others on Bessent's shortlist are another Fed governor, Michelle Bowman, who also serves as the central bank's top banking regulator, and BlackRock fixed-income chief investment officer Rick Rieder.
President Trump, right, gestures to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as he speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling to Tokyo, Japan, on Oct. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) ()
Bessent is expected to hold a second round of interviews with all five people following his travels in Asia and said he expects to present his final recommendation list to Trump right after Thanksgiving.
Trump said he would make a decision by the end of the year, to which Bessent chimed in, "before Christmas."
The candidate would be nominated for the Fed governor's seat now occupied by Stephen Miran, a White House economic adviser who took a leave of absence to join the Fed board on a temporary basis through January.
Current Fed Chair Jerome Powell's term as chair ends this May, but it's unclear whether he would stay on the Fed board once he steps down as chair. His term as a Fed governor still has two years remaining.
Trump is trying to put his own stamp on the Fed as he has hammered the central bank to cut interest rates all year. The Fed is widely expected to lower its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point this Wednesday for the second policy meeting in a row this year after holding rates steady until September.
Read more: How much control does the president have over the Fed and interest rates?
Miran argued ahead of this week's meeting for the Fed to cut by a jumbo 50 basis points, as he saw headwinds from renewed trade tensions with China. On Monday, those appeared to be smoothed over with the announcement of a tentative trade framework ahead of Trump's meeting on Thursday with China's President Xi. Miran dissented last policy meeting for the reason that he wanted to cut rates by 50 basis points instead of 25.
Fed governor Waller — also on Bessent's short list — has advocated for rate cuts but turned more cautious ahead of this week's policy meeting, noting that the Fed should take a more careful approach to cutting rates further after Wednesday because the data is showing conflicting signals about the economy.
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Source: ShowBiz MAG
Published: October 27, 2025 at 07:18PM on Source: ShowBiz MAG
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