Kimberly Adams

unless and until this Powell investigation is dropped and closed with some transparency, that basically this should not be hanging over the process going forward.

This is political.

This investigation of Powell compromises the political independence of the institution of the Federal Reserve itself.

So that's not specific to Warsh, I should be clear, but it may be something that complicates his path

to a confirmation.

All right.

Catherine Rampell of MSN Now and The Bulwark, thanks so much.

We also had Rachel Siegel earlier at The Washington Post.

Appreciate you.

Thanks, Kimberly.

Have a great weekend.

Wall Street today, markets ended the last trading day of the month down.

And even if traders seem to be somewhat positive about Trump's Fed pick, we'll have the details when we do the numbers.

Let's shift over to some company news now, which is also kind of foreign policy news.

ExxonMobil and Chevron posted their lowest annual profits since 2021 in their earnings reports today, adding yet another reason why neither of these companies seems particularly excited to invest big in Venezuela at the moment, despite White House pressure to do so.

In fact, it's not really a time when big oil is looking to pour big money into new oil production at all.

Marketplace's Elizabeth Troval has more on the investment environment for the major oil companies and how that factors into what's next for Venezuela.

For now, President Trump's goal of $100 billion in investment in rebuilding Venezuela's oil industry is not amounting to much more than a pipe dream.

Tom Tsang is with Texas Christian University.

Some of the roadblocks to big investments there aren't Venezuela-specific.