President Trump plans to make choice for Fed next week
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said today he has someone "very specific in mind" to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve and he will be announcing his choice next week.
"It will be a person who hopefully will do a fantastic job," Trump said in a video address he tweeted out late today. "I think everybody will be very impressed. But most importantly, I think at the end of eight years, you really will be impressed because things are looking good."
Trump did not give any hints about the person he has selected but various media reports said current Fed Chair Janet Yellen most likely will not be offered a second term, and Trump is instead leaning toward Jay Powell, a Fed board member who up until recently was the only Republican on the Fed board.
Asked about those reports during a White House briefing, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she could confirm the announcement is expected next week but "beyond that I don't have any other details to offer."
In the video remarks he tweeted out, Trump said he knew that "people are anxiously awaiting my decision as to who the next head of the Fed will be."
Yellen's four-year term ends in February. Trump earlier this week said his choice was down to "two and maybe three people." That group is believed to include Yellen, Powell and John Taylor, a Stanford University economist.