Kevin Warsh Sworn In As Trump’s Fed Chair

BreakingBusinessKevin Warsh Sworn In As Trump’s Fed ChairByAntonio Pequeño IV,Forbes StaffandTy Roush,Forbes Staff.Follow AuthorsMay 22, 2026, 12:14pm EDTToplinePresident Donald Trump on Friday held a swearing-in ceremony for new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, a former central bank official-turned-critic and aide to former President George W. Bush with familial ties to a longtime billionaire Republican donor. Warsh has claimed the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy “has been broken for quite a long time.”Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.Key FactsWarsh, 55, earned a law degree from Harvard University in 1995 before becoming a banker at Morgan Stanley, where he later served as vice president and executive director before joining the Bush administration in 2002 as executive secretary at the National Economic Council. Bush nominated Warsh to serve on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors in 2006, with Warsh becoming the youngest person ever to join the central bank at 35.During the 2008 financial crisis, Warsh aided in the government’s bailout of insurer AIG and assisted in JPMorgan’s acquisition of Bear Stearns, an 85-year-old brokerage that collapsed as the investment banking industry failed.Warsh criticized the Fed’s decision to quickly lower interest rates during the financial crisis, arguing the cuts would only spur inflation, and was the only Fed official to argue against the central bank’s plan in 2011 to buy $600 billion in Treasury securities.He joined the right-leaning Hoover Institution think tank after resigning from the Fed in 2011, and Warsh was among the finalists before Trump nominated Jerome Powell to succeed Janet Yellen as Fed chair in 2017.Warsh is a critic of Powell, telling CNBC last year he supported a “regime change” at the Fed, claiming its policy has been “broken for quite a long time” and arguing Trump was “right to be frustrated” with Powell’s refusal to lower interest rates more quickly. if (!window.cnxel) { win...