Fed’s Warsh says he meets with Trump administration ‘often’

Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh testifies during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 15, 2026.

Ken Cedeno | AFP | Getty Images

Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh declined Wednesday to say during a Senate Banking Committee hearing whether he had spoken with President Donald Trump since he became president, but confirmed he was in regular communication with the Trump administration.

This does not affect his independence, Warsh said.

Warsh finds himself in a difficult position seven weeks into his tenure as Fed chairman. Investors are trying to figure out where the Fed will set interest rates, as Warsh looks back at how the Fed talks about its plans. He was nominated by a president who said lower interest rates were a litmus test for his choice for president and has continued to call for cuts since Warsh’s confirmation. Any suggestion that Warsh did not honestly express his views could threaten his ability to bring a divided federal open market committee to consensus on interest rates.

The White House declined to comment on conversations between the president and the Fed chairman, saying it does not discuss any of the president’s private conversations that may or may not have taken place.

A Fed spokesperson declined to comment.

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Warsh repeatedly defended his independence and the credibility that comes with it during two days of appearances before Congress, starting in the House on Tuesday and moving to the Senate on Wednesday.

“The independence of the Federal Reserve is sacrosanct,” Warsh said Tuesday. “Part of the Fed’s power doesn’t just come from printing money, although that can be useful from time to time. It comes from our credibility, our credibility in making the best choices possible, under the law you wrote for us.”

As Warsh pointed out in his testimony both days, inflation has remained above the Fed’s 2% target for the past 63 months. Inflation fell in June, according to Consumer and Producer Price Index data released this week, but Warsh was careful not to take a victory lap.

“Any central bank would be happy that the data is moving in the right direction. My view is that these are all imperfect measures of the state of underlying inflation,” he said.

This view of inflation is the subject of debate within the Fed. Warsh created a task force to examine how the Fed views inflation. But it’s not a given that the Fed will accept the working group’s – and Warsh’s – views on the issue.

The FOMC seems divided on the evolution of interest rates. Fed Governor Christopher Waller and New York Federal Reserve President John Williams have said in recent days that it may be necessary to raise interest rates this year.

But if Warsh still needs allies at the Fed, he has one in the Trump administration. The White House said the president is deferring to Warsh’s views on how to manage the Fed, even though Trump still wants interest rates lowered.

The Fed Chairman and Treasury Secretary meet for a weekly breakfast, following a long-standing tradition.

Warsh has continued that tradition with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and gone above and beyond, he said Wednesday.

“I meet with the Treasury Secretary every week. I talk to him often in between.” He added that he would make his own decisions regarding interest rates.

A spokesperson for Bessent declined to comment.

Warsh and Bessent share a mentor in investor Stanley Druckenmiller, who employed Warsh for more than a decade until he became Fed chairman. Bessent worked for Druckenmiller earlier in his career as a hedge fund manager. Warsh and Bessent did not overlap in their work at Druckenmiller, but they knew each other well before accepting their current jobs.

Warsh said before becoming Fed chairman that he wanted to negotiate a new agreement between the Treasury and the Fed, referencing the 1951 agreement that established the Fed’s modern independence. Warsh said he wants to give some authority over the Fed’s balance sheet to the Treasury secretary. He has not expanded on these views since becoming Fed chairman and creating a task force to examine the Fed’s balance sheet policy.

Trump’s top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that he also recently spoke with Warsh. Hassett said he praised Warsh’s new task forces during their conversation.

Warsh declined to say when asked directly by the Senate Banking Committee whether he had spoken with the president since he became president. But he said it should not be considered a problem if that were the case.

“I certainly don’t feel uncomfortable receiving a call from the chairman of this committee or the president of the United States,” Warsh said.

Public calendars released by the Fed show that Warsh’s predecessor, Jerome Powell, met with or called Bessent only a few times outside of their regular breakfast meetings. There was only one such meeting in 2026, when Powell and Bessent discussed the risks of artificial intelligence with bank CEOs in April.

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