Former US Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Wersh speaks during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring Meeting at the IMF headquarters in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, April 25, 2025.
Tierney L. Cross | Bloomberg | getty images
The Senate Banking Committee will hold a nomination hearing on April 16 for Kevin Wersh to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC.
Warsh’s nomination is moving forward even as a separate criminal investigation by the feds continues, setting up a potential conflict between two parallel processes set out by the Trump administration.
Senator Thom Tillis, R.-N.C., a member of the Banking Committee, has said he will not vote to confirm Warsh until the investigation is resolved. Yet President Donald Trump is eager to confirm Warsh.
Tillis’ opposition means Trump can’t do both. But he is trying his best to push the hearing forward.
The committee has not yet scheduled the hearing on its public schedule. Warsh and a spokesman for the Senate Banking Committee declined to comment.
POLITICO previously reported that the committee had scheduled a hearing.
The criminal investigation is examining allegations that current Fed Chairman Jerome Powell lied to Congress about the state of costly repairs at the Fed’s offices. Powell has denounced the investigation as a pretext to pressure them to lower interest rates, as Trump has sought.
Congress entrusted the Fed with the task of setting interest rates independent of political considerations. Central banks that act independently generally perform better at fighting inflation. The threat of prices rising again in the US has become a concern as energy costs rise due to the Iran war.
A federal judge has sided with Powell in the case. Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Friday rejected a motion by the government to reconsider his decision to quash the subpoena at the Feds. This means the subpoenas are not proceeding and the status of the investigation is unclear.
“We will certainly appeal the judiciary’s interference with our access to the grand jury,” a spokeswoman for Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said Saturday.
Tillis’ office did not immediately respond to Weekend’s requests for comment.
Tillis has praised Warsh’s credentials, but said he will not lift the blockade until his concerns for the Fed’s independence are addressed.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a Serious Letter to Warsh, predicting that he would serve as a “rubber stamp for President Trump’s Wall Street First agenda”, and accusing him of “learning nothing from your failures” during his previous tenure at the central bank.
Warsh previously declined to comment on the letter. Federal nominees rarely speak to the public before their hearings.
Meanwhile, other changes are underway at the Justice Department that could give prosecutors an opportunity to focus on the Powell case. Trump on Thursday fired Attorney General Pam Bondi and appointed Todd Blanche as temporary acting attorney general. Before joining the administration, he was Trump’s defense attorney.
The administration has said it is the Justice Department’s decision whether to investigate Powell. But Trump has repeatedly indicated that he supports the investigation.
Trump said on March 19, “There is criminality” related to the Fed’s construction spending.
If so, the government has not proved it before the judge.
“The government’s fundamental problem is that it has presented no evidence of fraud,” Boasberg wrote in his ruling Friday.