Trump’s Fed Chair Pick Is Kevin Warsh and He Has Fans in CRE

Kevin Warsh, who was a Federal Reserve governor during the height of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, was nominated Friday by President Donald Trump to succeed Jerome Powell as Fed chair.

Trump’s pick of Warsh, a Wall Street veteran who was on the central bank’s board of governors from 2006 to 2011, follows a tumultuous yearlong stretch in which the Republican president has pummeled Powell for not lowering interest rates to his satisfaction. Warsh’s nomination has given some in the commercial real estate industry comfort that the Fed’s independence will be maintained given Warsh’s past background with the central bank. 

“We think Kevin Warsh will be an excellent Fed governor and, frankly, for the real estate  industry, he will be helpful,” said Toby Cobb, co-founder and managing partner of CRE lender 3650 Capital. “He’s a great economist and will certainly guide our nation’s monetary policy with the best interest of our collected outcomes.” 

Warsh was also a candidate to be Fed chair in late 2017 when Trump instead nominated Powell, whose second term as Fed chair expires May 15. Warsh’s nomination must be approved by the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate.  

The former Fed governor called for lower interest rates in a July 2015 interview on CBNC’s “Squawk Box,” where he criticized the central bank’s restrictive policies under Powell. Warsh was previously an investment banker at Morgan Stanley from 1995 to 2002 and more recently has been a fellow at Stanford University‘s conservative-leaning Hoover Institution.

Sam Chandan, director of the Chao-Hon Chen Institute for Global Real Estate Finance at New York University, said Warsh’s experience with the central bank and his market reputation as “an inflation hawk” will arm him with “greater credibility” when he seeks more interest rate cuts.

“The political environment in which his nomination is made complicates matters,” Chandan said. “Some damage to perceptions of the Fed’s independence has already occurred, but that should not cloud our assessment of Mr. Warsh’s grasp of the economy and monetary policy.”

The Warsh nomination announcement was made two days after the Fed maintained its benchmark interest rate at between 3.5 percent and 3.75 percent and indicated keeping borrowing levels steady after enacting three cuts in a row to close out 2025. 

Trump has sought to reshape the Fed to meet his wish of lower interest rates, including an attempt to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook over alleged mortgage fraud. The U.S. Supreme Court signaled during Jan. 19 oral arguments that Cook’s job was likely safe.

Powell was also the subject of a U.S. Justice Department subpoena earlier this month connected to renovations to the Fed’s Washington, D.C., offices. 

“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,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post announcing the selection of Warsh. “On top of everything else, he is ‘central casting,’ and he will never let you down.”

A Stanford graduate, Warsh earned a bachelor’s degree in public policy with concentrations in economics and political science. He also earned a law degree from Harvard Law School. 

“In some circles concerns will be raised about Mr. Warsh not holding a Ph.D,” Chandan said.  “I have one, and I think he’ll be fine.”