00:00Fed Chair Hopeful Kevin Warsh got absolutely grilled on Capitol Hill Tuesday like a burger at a summer barbecue.
00:06The back and forth everyone was expecting, of course, concerns the independence of the Federal Reserve from the three branches
00:13of government, particularly from the executive branch.
00:16Ranking member Elizabeth Warren put it this way in her opening statement.
00:19Trump's economic failures are causing him political problems, and he wants the Fed to use monetary policies to artificially juice
00:29the economy in the short term.
00:31And this is his last chance to do that before the November elections.
00:36When he was questioned about it, specifically about whether President Trump asked him to cut interest rates or instructed him
00:42to follow the president's directions, Warsh said this.
00:45He didn't ask for it. He didn't demand it. He didn't require it. And nor would I have ever done
00:50so.
00:51Elsewhere in the hearing, Warsh refused to condemn the government's probes into the man who would be his predecessor, Jerome
00:55Powell or Fed Governor Lisa Cook.
00:58North Carolina Senator Tom Tillis reaffirmed his plan to block the nomination if those probes are not dropped.
01:03It's unclear when the committee will vote, but the clock is ticking.
01:07Jerome Powell's term is up on May 15th, and the Senate has yet another week off between now and then,
01:13because why wouldn't they?
01:14Now, Powell, for his part, has said that he would stay on past May 15th if his replacement isn't confirmed.
01:20President Trump said he's going to fire him if that happens.
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