Donald Trump jokingly said he would sue Kevin Warsh, his nominee to chair the Federal Reserve, if he didn’t lower interest rates. The President made the comment during a black-tie dinner with top politicians and businessmen at the Alfalfa Club, just a day after nominating Warsh.
Speaking about the joke, Trump later told reporters, “It’s a roast. It’s a comedy,” while praising Warsh as the ideal nominee and saying he should easily get through confirmation, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The President announced Warsh’s nomination on Friday, January 30, 2026. “I am pleased to announce that I am nominating Kevin Warsh to be the chairman of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System,” he wrote on Truth Social.
He further revealed that Warsh serves as the Shepard Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution and Lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and is a Partner of Stanley Druckenmiller at Duquesne Family Office LLC.
JUST IN: Donald Trump has named former Federal Reserve official Kevin Warsh to succeed Jerome Powell as Fed chair.
Warsh’s father-in-law is billionaire Ron Lauder, a major GOP donor and close Trump ally who just struck a deal to mine lithium in Ukraine. Lauder is famously the… pic.twitter.com/3lgxkhGUGO
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) January 30, 2026
Trump also mentioned that Warsh earned his A.B. from Stanford University, and J.D. from Harvard Law School, and has extensive research experience in the field of Economics and Finance.
He noted how recommendations from Warsh’s proposed reforms, issued as an Independent Report to the Bank of England, in the conduct of Monetary Policy in the United Kingdom were adopted by the Parliament.
The President also highlighted that at 35 years of age, Kevin Warsh became the youngest Fed Governor. He also served as a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 2006 until 2011, as the Federal Reserve’s Representative to the Group of Twenty (G-20), and as the Board’s Emissary to the Emerging and Advanced Economies in Asia.
Warsh also served as an Administrative Governor, “managing and overseeing the Board’s operations, personnel, and financial performance,” per Trump. He was also Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, and Executive Secretary of the White House National Economic Council from 2002 until 2006.
Vice Chairman of IBM Gary Cohn says Kevin Warsh, President Trump’s pick for Fed Chair “is going to take the Fed back to the traditional sort of norms.”
Cohn, who ran Goldman Sachs during the 2008 financial crisis, says Warsh’s work at the Fed during that time “was instrumental… pic.twitter.com/Etml79AtR1
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) February 1, 2026
Trump also noted that Warsh was a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Department at Morgan Stanley & Co., in New York, and served as the Vice President and Executive Director.
“I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best. On top of everything else, he is “central casting,” and he will never let you down,” he wrote.
Kevin Warsh has been nominated to replace Jerome Powell, who was also selected by Donald Trump in 2018. While his term is set to end in May, Powell is currently under federal investigation.
The probe centers on the renovation of the Federal Reserve’s headquarters and whether Powell was truthful with Congress about the project’s size and price tag. Powell also received heat on social media for resisting pressure from the president regarding rapid interest rate cuts.
Kevin Warsh, who has been vocal about his calls for a required “regime change” at the Central Bank, will now undergo a Senate confirmation.
