Bessent announces 4 candidates for Fed Powell position

On the eve of the New Year holidays, the President Donald Trump said he would decide who he wanted to lead the Federal Reserve by January.

Current Chairman Jerome Powell’s term expires in May 2026 and he has made it clear that he will fulfill his obligations as head of the central bank.

This week, Trump continued his verbal attacks on Powell, whom he again called “too late” for not cutting interest rates more quickly. He also called him a “fool” and criticized him for the renovation of the Fed’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., which went over budget.

FOX Business is reviewing the shortlist of candidates, which has narrowed to four, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who helped review the candidates.

Some have ties to the central bank and the White House, while another has a top position at the world’s largest asset manager.

Trump calls Powell an ‘idiot’ again, threatens lawsuit over renovations

Kevin Hassett

Hassett, considered a top-two pick, is on his second rotation in Trump’s orbit. He is the director of the National Economic Council. In the first Trump administration, he was a senior advisor and chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. The two agencies work in tandem with the White House on economic policies.

After the U.S. economy grew 4.3 percent in the third quarter, Hassett took a victory lap for the White House. “Trump’s policies are working, and they’re working very visibly because we’ve seen the data,” he said in an interview on FOX Business Network’s “Kudlow” following the report.

THE FED’S PLANNED RATE CUT COMES WITH OTHER DILEMMAS FOR THE CENTRAL BANK

Kevin Warsh

The former Federal Reserve governor, who joins Hassett as a leading candidate for Fed chair, has long been a critic of the central bank.

“I think their track record is really poor in forecasting how the economy will grow from policies like the ones the president put in place. And their inflation forecasts have also been terrible. That’s why they were so late, and that’s why we had this surge in inflation that hurt the hardest-working Americans among us the most. So that track record, I think, is still important,” he said during a recent appearance on “Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street.

Rick Rieder

Rick Rieder, BlackRock chief investment officer of global fixed income, oversees $3.2 trillion in client assets for the world’s largest asset manager. BlackRock manages more than $10 trillion. During an interview with FOX Business’ Liz Claman in December, Rieder declined to comment on possible Fed directionrather referring to what he said during his last appearance on FBN.

Teleprinter	Security	Last	Change	Change %
BLACK	BLACKROCK INC.	1,060.17	-4.82	-0.45%

“When I first heard it, I thought it would be the greatest honor of my life. I mean, to be considered in a position like that and to think about the responsibility, and frankly, what I thought about was the capacity, and I think the reason that serving your country is such a powerful dynamic is that the capacity to help people through monetary policy, through economic transmission, is really powerful,” he said in August.

AMERICANS WILL GET A HUGE TAX REFUND NEXT YEAR

Christopher Waller

WALLER: I SUIT THE NEXT FED CHAIRPERSON

Waller, along with colleague Michelle Bowman, were among the first Fed dissidents in July to vote in favor of rate cuts. The duo reflects a growing divide within the Federal Reserve, which has been criticized for waiting too long to cut rates amid higher inflation and a slowing labor market.

In December, Waller accepted a Rate cut by 0.25 point by the Fed. This is the third rate cut of the year. In the minutes of the last meeting, made public on December 30, the number of participants expected rate cuts in 2026 remain uncertain.

READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS

Eric Revell and Edward Lawrence of FOX Business contributed to this report, which was updated 12/30/25 to reflect the list of candidates and timeline for President Trump’s choice.