National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, once considered the clear front-runner to be named the next Federal Reserve chairman, said Friday that he has no problem staying in his current job.
Shortly after President Donald Trump announced that former Fed Director Kevin Warsh would be the new chairman, Hassett told CNBC that he was not disappointed and that he understood and supported the decision.
“I got my dream job,” he said in an interview on “Squawk on the Street.” “I think President Trump made a great choice. I’m truly touched and humbled by all the kind words he’s said about me.”
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that Hassett “has been doing a great job with me and my team at the White House, so I didn’t want to let him go. Kevin is so good beyond words that there is an expression: ‘If you can’t make it better, don’t try to fix it!'” Kevin, thank you for the great job! ”
Hassett made similar comments, saying he and his economic team, which includes Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, are “all in, and this is a really bad time to change teams. You don’t change quarterbacks when you’re so far ahead.”
“I really think highly of Kevin, and I’m going to do everything I can to get his approval as soon as possible so we can move the Fed in the right direction,” Hassett added.
The move to nominate Warsh to the post, which begins in the summer of 2025, would end the drama that follows President Trump’s years of complaints about the Fed’s actions under Chairman Jerome Powell. At one time, there were 11 possible successors in the field, and at one point there was talk that the choice could be as many as two Kevins, but at one point BlackRock executive Rick Rieder was at the forefront of prediction markets.
Trump, Hassett and others have criticized the Fed for setting interest rates too high. Hassett again disagreed with the central bank in an interview with CNBC, saying the decision to leave the benchmark interest rate unchanged earlier this week was a mistake.
On Friday, Sen. Thom Tillis (R.N.C.) reiterated his threat to hold up Fed nominations as long as the Justice Department continues to investigate plans to renovate the central bank’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, but Mr. Hassett also addressed potential political concerns surrounding Mr. Warsh’s nomination.
“The White House is very confident that Kevin Warsh is a great candidate and should be confirmed as soon as possible, and we have every resource at our disposal behind him and his outcome,” Hassett said.
If approved, Warsh would fill the seat currently held by Gov. Stephen Milan, whose term ends Saturday. However, Powell will not take over as chairman until his term expires in May.
Correction: Sen. Thom Tillis is a Republican from North Carolina. A previous version misspelled his name and incorrectly identified his condition.
