Kevin Warsh Hires Conservative Advisers as Fed Overhaul Talk Grows

Kevin Warsh has hired two conservative policy veterans as temporary advisers at the Federal Reserve, signaling he does not intend to run the central bank as usual. According to Jin10, CNN reporter Bryan Mena said Warsh could not deliver interest-rate cuts demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump on his own, but had made clear the Fed would not continue with business as usual. Mena reported that Warsh brought on Paul Winfree and Daniel Heil as interim advisers. Warsh has also said the Fed has “a lot of redundant staff,” suggesting he may pursue major personnel changes affecting about 3,000 Washington-based employees. The report added that Jerome Powell began a layoff process last year in line with similar actions across the federal government. Warsh has also urged Fed officials to view inflation differently by focusing on an alternative measure known as the “trimmed mean.” At an April confirmation hearing, Warsh said such measures capture “what the underlying inflation rate is,” rather than one-off price moves driven by factors such as geopolitical shifts or changes in beef prices. With the new advisers in place, discussions about institutional change have been underway, and Warsh’s upcoming press conference is expected to provide the first clear signal of how far he intends to go in reshaping the Federal Reserve.