Washington
Former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh, who is President Donald Trump’s pick for the next Fed chair, is set to testify next week before the Senate Banking Committee.
Sen. Tim Scott, a top Republican on the committee that approves nomineees to the central bank, teased in a Tuesday morning interview with Fox Business that the hearing had been scheduled. The Senate Banking Committee later in the afternoon said in a notice that the hearing will take place at 10 a.m. ET on April 21.
For a presidential nomination to be considered by senators, the nominee must submit paperwork on their finances and any potential conflicts of interest. Warsh filed his 69-page disclosure late Monday.
The disclosures detail the Fed nominee’s substantial wealth and various positions on corporate boards. They also reveal the significant financial holdings of his spouse, Jane Lauder, who is the granddaughter of cosmetics mogul Estée Lauder. Warsh said he would recuse himself from any matters directly involving The Estée Lauder Companies and also TAW Ventures, a pet wellness investment fund his wife founded, due to her ties.
Warsh agreed to divest from his many financial holdings within 90 days of confirmation. He also committed to resigning from several roles, such as at UPS and Coupang, along with his Stanford affiliations and many other consulting positions.
However, a fight between the White House and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a senior Republican on the committee, could torpedo Warsh’s confirmation. For months, Tillis has said he will refuse to vote for a Fed chair nominee unless the Justice Department drops its investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell and testimony he gave to Congress on a multibillion-dollar renovation project to the Fed’s headquarters.
Republicans have a razor-thin majority in the committee, so they need Tillis’ vote.
In a statement to CNN, a spokesperson for Tillis said the senator “will support Kevin Warsh once the DOJ investigation has concluded.” Tillis reiterated that stance in a Tuesday morning interview from Capitol Hill with CNN’s Ted Barrett.
“I won’t spend my five minutes asking (Warsh) about his credentials, because he has them. I’ll spend five minutes talking about a bogus investigation that’s going to cause me to vote no, unless they end the investigation,” Tillis said. “I’m still a hard no.”
In a separate interview with CNN’s Manu Raju, Tillis added: “What’s a greater value? Getting Warsh into the chairman’s role or continuing a frivolous investigation? That’s the cost-benefit analysis the administration needs to make.”
However, Scott told Fox he believes “the DOJ will finish and wrap this up in the next several weeks and Thom Tillis will be a yes on Kevin Warsh.” CNN reached out to Scott’s office inquiring why the committee is moving forward with the hearing knowing Tillis is still not on board with Warsh’s nomination.
The problem: DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro, whose office is leading the Powell probe, has said she will push to continue the investigation, even if it means Warsh doesn’t get the green light. She has described Tillis’ unwavering support for Powell, and the implications for Warsh’s nomination, as “white noise.”
“I don’t know and I don’t care, and I’ll tell you why. I am in a legal lane… I don’t care what they say,” she said in a hastily organized news conference last month. Her investigation, however, has faced some embarrassing setbacks.
In March, US District Judge James “Jeb” Boasberg quashed Pirro’s subpoenas to Powell, stating in a ruling that a “mountain of evidence suggests that the Government served these subpoenas on the Board to pressure its Chair into voting for lower interest rates or resigning.” Powell said as much in a stunning video rebuke of the probe. More recently, Boasberg rejected Pirro’s motion to reconsider his ruling.
Pirro said she plans to appeal to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, a process that could take months to reach a resolution.
In a news conference after the Fed’s March policy meeting, Powell told reporters he will stay at the central bank until a new Fed chair is in place.
“I have no intention of leaving the Board until the investigation is well and truly over with transparency and finality,” Powell said. His term as chair expires on May 15.
