Fed Chair nominee Kevin Warsh says Trump didnt order him to cut rates in heated Senate hearing

Fed Chair nominee Kevin Warsh denied that President Trump demanded he lower interest rates in a heated Senate hearing Tuesday.Asked whether Trump pressured him to commit to interest-rate cuts, the 56-year-old financier said: “He didn’t ask for it, he didn’t demand it, he didn’t require it and nor would I have ever done so.”Warsh — who was joined at the hearing by his billionaire Estee Lauder heiress wife Jane Lauder, along with NFL star Larry Fitzgerald — has argued that artificial intelligence will create a productivity boom while keeping prices low, allowing the Fed to slash rates.He also refused to defend Fed Chair Jerome Powell or Fed Governor Lisa Cook against the government’s probes, saying it was “inappropriate” to comment on cases pending before courts.“My disagreements with Chairman Powell are about policy, not personality,” said Warsh, who is currently a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.Warsh – who has been a harsh critic of his would-be colleagues, comparing Fed officials to “pampered princes” – seemingly jabbed at the Fed’s attention to climate change and racial inequity under the Biden administration, saying the central bank needs to “stick to its lane.”He criticized the Fed for changing its inflation framework in 2020, which he blamed for the “inflation surge…we’re still living with,” and for being outspoken on the direction of interest rates when “we need central bankers who are humble, who are nimble, who can react.”Sen.Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called Warsh a “sock puppet,” accusing him of flip-flopping on his inflation hawk stance to “snag his dream job” under Trump.Though Republicans on the committee, like Chairman Tim Scott, lauded Warsh’s credentials, including his stint as a Fed governor from 2006 to 2011, he is facing an uphill climb in the road to confirmation.Sen.

Thom Tillis (R-NC) doubled down on his vow to block Warsh’s approval until the DOJ ends its prob...