Tillis backs Warsh for Fed after DOJ drops Powell probe
SkimNews Take
Tillis's shift on Warsh, amidst other administration challenges and external pressures, suggests a strategic consolidation of political capital by the President on a less contentious front.
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- Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said Sunday he would no longer block Kevin Warsh's Federal Reserve chair confirmation, removing a key hurdle for Trump's pick to lead the central bank
- Tillis conditioned his support on the DOJ dropping its criminal investigation into current Fed Chair Jerome Powell, which the department announced last week
- The DOJ is still allowing the Fed's watchdog to investigate cost "overruns" related to the central bank's multi-billion dollar building renovation project
- The Senate banking committee will vote Wednesday to advance Warsh's nomination, which is expected to clear on party lines for a full Senate vote
- Fed Chair Jerome Powell's term expires May 15, leaving less than three weeks to confirm and swear in Warsh as head of one of the world's most important economic bodies
- Powell said last month he has "no intention of leaving the Board until the investigation is well and truly over, with transparency and finality," leaving open the possibility he stays on the Fed board through 2028
Why it matters: Powell's term expires May 15, giving the Senate less than three weeks to confirm and install Warsh as Fed chair. Tillis's reversal clears the path for Wednesday's committee vote and an expected party-line floor vote, yet the DOJ's pending appeal of a judge's ruling to quash Fed subpoenas leaves Powell's own bar — an investigation ended with "transparency and finality" — unresolved heading into next week's likely final Powell press conference.
