Nick Timiraos

They think it underscores the idea that

that Donald Trump is going to compromise the independence of the Fed.

And so now there's much more attention being placed by the Senate that's going to have to confirm the next Fed chair on who this person might be.

And so the thinking there would be maybe it'll be easier to get somebody confirmed if they have a little bit more distance and can hold up the idea that they'll be independent.

Well, it doesn't really change too much with either of the two Kevins.

Maybe people think Kevin Hassett would be a little bit more likely than Kevin Warsh to push for rate cuts.

But most analysts who are watching this think that at least in 2026, both men would try to secure a couple more interest rate cuts since that's what Donald Trump has made so clear that he wants.

The question really then would be about, well, what happens in 2027 and 2028?

Thanks for having me.

I had been washing the dishes and thinking I was going to be putting my kids to bed.

This was an extraordinary video.

You know, Powell has been very composed and measured.

This is a man who chooses his words extremely carefully.

Watching that video, you couldn't help but recognize that a line had been crossed, that we were no longer in this environment of kind of tiptoeing around what's going on.

It was direct, blunt, explicit, in a way that nothing he had said before had approached.

Republican senators asked Chair Powell, what's going on here?

Powell gave some defensive answers saying, you know, a lot of the things you've read in the press aren't accurate.

We're not doing this and we're not doing that.

So he implied in this letter, basically Powell either lied to Congress or the Fed failed to notify the relevant building authorities around Washington what they were doing with these buildings.

He keeps the rates too high.