President Donald Trump is expressing some regret over one decision at the Federal Reserve.
Although Trump did not mention chair Jerome Powell by name, the president suggested in an upcoming interview on Fox Business on Tuesday that he wished he had not nominated him to lead the central bank in 2017. Former President Joe Biden had reappointed Powell in 2021 for a second term, which ends mid-May.
“I made a mistake,” Trump told anchor Larry Kudlow in comments released Monday. “Because I had somebody that was — my secretary of the Treasury [Steven Mnuchin] — wanted him so badly, so badly, and you know, I didn’t feel good about him, but sometimes you listen to people. And it was a mistake. It was really a big mistake.”
After publicly sparring with Powell, Trump announced late last month that he plans to tap Kevin Warsh as the next chair of the Federal Reserve. The decision came as the president has mounted a pressure campaign on Powell to cut interest rates, which includes a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice related to renovations of the central bank’s Washington headquarters.
If confirmed by the Senate, Warsh — who Trump described as a “very high quality person” — would succeed Powell. Trump said that Warsh was a “runner up” before Powell was ultimately chosen during his first term.
In the clip of his interview with Kudlow, Trump went on to predict that Warsh could help the economy grow at a rate of 15% or even “more than that.” It is unclear whether he was referring to year-over-year growth or a different metric.
Prior to naming Warsh as his pick, Trump had maintained during the search that he wanted the next chair to lower rates. The president told NBC News last week that he believes Warsh understands he wants to cut rates, saying that “I think he wants to anyway.”
“He wouldn’t have gotten the job,” Trump said if Warsh had advocated for raising them.
Trump also argued that Republicans “should win in a landslide” during the 2026 midterm elections, adding that he will have to “sell” to voters that the United States is the “hottest country in the world.”
“I think we have the greatest economy, actually, in history,” he said.
