Updated 5 min read
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is turning up the pressure on the Federal Reserve as his boss starts to talk more openly about the top three candidates who have the best shot of replacing central bank Chair Jerome Powell.
Bessent used a new Sunday appearance on Meet the Press and a new op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal last Friday to outline a series of critiques, ranging from Fed “mission creep” and “institutional bloat” to slow action on interest rates that he argues puts the Fed behind the curve just as the labor market begins to slow.
A weak jobs report released Friday, according to Bessent, shows that President Trump “was right about the Federal Reserve. They are too late, and because of the bad numbers, they likely would have been cutting in June.”
The economy added 22,000 jobs in August, weaker than the 75,000 economists expected, with the unemployment rate rising to 4.3% from 4.2%. Job growth for June was also revised into negative territory to -13,000 jobs.
The White House took new aim at Powell following the jobs report, with the president saying in a separate Truth Social post that “Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell should have lowered rates long ago.”
Read more: How the Fed rate decision affects your bank accounts, loans, credit cards, and investments
The search for Powell’s successor is narrowing, according to Trump. The president on Friday said he is looking at National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, Fed governor Christopher Waller, and former Fed governor Kevin Warsh as his three finalists to replace Powell next May when his term ends.
“You could say those are the top three,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
It was his most specific signal to date about who has the best chance at the job. He has made it clear he wants a chair who will lower rates, a stance that has raised concerns about the independence of the central bank.
Hassett on Sunday that the Fed should be “fully independent of political influence,” including from the current occupant of the Oval Office.
“I would say 100% that monetary policy, Federal Reserve monetary policy, needs to be fully independent of political influence, including from President Trump,” Hassett told CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”
“The fact is that we’ve looked at countries that have allowed the leaders to take over the central banks, and what tends to happen is that it’s a recipe for inflation and misery for consumers.”
It is clear that Trump is trying to remake the leadership of the Fed, appointing figures who are close to the White House.
