Epstein ties present potential hurdle for Trump’s Fed chair nominee
By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN
(CNN) — Kevin Warsh’s path to becoming the next Federal Reserve chair is already rocky — and it may be approaching a major roadblock, casting fresh uncertainty about who will be leading the central bank at a critical moment for the economy.
Nearly two months have passed since President Donald Trump announced Warsh’s nomination, and with two months until Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s term as chair expires, no Senate confirmation hearing date has been set.
Two main factors have been standing in the way — and now, there may be a third.
On Thursday, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Warsh demanding more details about the extent of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Emails sent to or from an account associated with Epstein released by the Department of Justice suggest Warsh and his wife, Jane Lauder, were invited to events Epstein helped organize.
One was in St. Barthélemy around Christmas in 2010; another was a dinner in New York. The guest list for the dinner includes Epstein, Warsh, Lauder, Trump and his wife Melania, and some of the president’s children.
It’s unclear from the batch of email exchanges released in January who attended the events. Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing and being mentioned in the files is not an indication of that.
“As the Senate considers your nomination to serve as Chair of the Fed, it is essential that Congress and the public fully understand the extent of any interactions or relationship you had with Jeffrey Epstein,” Warren, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said in a letter to Warsh. The committee vets Fed nominees and determines whether they can advance to the full Senate.
Warren asked Warsh, a former Fed governor, whether he attended the two events or any others that Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell were at. She also requested records of any communications Warsh may have had with Maxwell or Epstein.
The White House did not respond to CNN’s inquiry about Warsh.
The other hurdles between Warsh and the Fed
A Department of Justice criminal probe into Powell, for which Trump voiced support on Thursday, has been a major source of contention.
DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro vowed to appeal the case, which a federal judge tossed last week, saying in an unsealed opinion that the government “produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime.”
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, also a member of the Senate Banking Committee, has pledged to block Warsh’s nomination from advancing until the DOJ drops its probe into Powell.
Tillis likely holds the deciding vote on the committee comprised of 13 Republicans and 11 Democrats. A simple majority is needed to advance to the full Senate.
Additionally, the committee has not received necessary paperwork from Warsh, including financial and ethics disclosures, a person familiar with the matter told CNN.
Ultimately, the chances that Warsh will be confirmed by the time Powell’s eight-year tenure as chair expires on May 15 seem to be getting slimmer. In the event that a new chair is not confirmed by then, Powell would stay on as chair “pro tem,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “That is what the law calls for.”
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
