Trump has long praised Warsh, the other Kevin on his shortlist to replace Powell.
In December, Trump told The Wall Street Journal that Warsh was at the top of his list.
“I think you have Kevin and Kevin. They’re both—I think the two Kevins are great,” he told the publication. “I think there are a couple of other people that are great.”
Months earlier, Trump told reporters that Hassett, Warsh, and current Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller were “the top three.”
In leading prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, Warsh’s odds surged in mid-December, then shrank, and are now trending higher once again.
Back in his first term, Trump reportedly considered Warsh to lead the Fed before he chose to nominate Powell in 2017.
Warsh spent his early years at Morgan Stanley, working as a specialist in mergers and acquisitions. President George W. Bush nominated him to the Fed in 2006 after Warsh served as an economic advisor in the Bush White House.
Drawing on his Wall Street ties, Warsh played a pivotal role in the central bank’s response to the 2008 global financial crisis. When he left the Fed in 2011, the Times called him the Fed’s chief liaison to Wall Street.
From the sidelines, Warsh has echoed Trump’s criticism of Powell, calling for “regime change” at the Fed.
“The specter of the miss they made on inflation, it has stuck with them,” Warsh told CNBC in July. “So one of the reasons why the president, I think, is right to be pushing the Fed publicly is we need regime change in the conduct of policy.”
