Politics

Trump’s Fed Fight Took Over the Warsh Confirmation Hearing

By Mike Harper · April 21, 2026

Kevin Warsh showed up to his confirmation hearing Tuesday. The senators spent most of the time talking about someone who wasn’t in the room.

The Senate Banking Committee hearing on Warsh’s nomination to lead the Federal Reserve was quickly consumed by questions about President Trump’s ongoing campaign against current Fed Chair Jerome Powell — the criminal probe, the threat to fire him, and whether any of it would affect Warsh’s path to confirmation. According to Politico, the clash between Trump and Powell effectively hijacked what was supposed to be a vetting of Warsh’s economic credentials and qualifications.

The backdrop is by now well-established. Trump has repeatedly threatened to fire Powell if he doesn’t leave when his chairmanship expires May 15. The Justice Department is running a criminal probe into Powell over cost overruns at the Fed’s headquarters renovation — a probe a federal judge has called pretextual and designed primarily to pressure Powell to resign. Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a Republican on the Banking Committee, has vowed to block Warsh’s confirmation until the DOJ probe is ended, calling the investigation an attack on Fed independence.

Warsh is caught between these two forces in an awkward position — praised by both sides as qualified, while simultaneously becoming a proxy for a fight about whether the president can weaponize law enforcement to reshape monetary policy.

At the hearing, senators pressed Warsh on whether he would commit to maintaining the Fed’s independence from the White House. Warsh, a former Fed governor, has made careful public statements that reflect a deliberate effort not to alienate either Trump or the institution he is being asked to lead. That tightrope will be harder to walk once confirmed.

Tillis remains the decisive vote. Without him, Warsh cannot clear the committee — and Tillis has been explicit that his support is conditioned entirely on DOJ dropping its investigation into Powell. Trump has shown no appetite for that. As long as both men hold their positions, Warsh’s confirmation is in limbo regardless of what was said in the hearing room Tuesday.

Powell, for his part, has said he will not resign until the investigation is concluded and a successor is confirmed. If Warsh can’t be confirmed, Powell could remain as a governor on the Fed board until 2028.