Steve Bannon wants Scott Bessent to run the two most powerful economic arms of the U.S. government at once — the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department.
In a podcast interview on Friday, Steve told Sean Spicer that Scott should take over from Jerome Powell as Fed chair next year but still stay on as Treasury Secretary. The episode’s footage was obtained by CNBC’s Eamon Javers.
“I am a big believer that on an interim basis, that Scott Bessent should be both the head of the Federal Reserve and the secretary of Treasury, and maybe get through the midterm elections, step down at Treasury and take over the Federal Reserve,” Steve said.
Scott is already heading the search for Powell’s replacement when his term ends in May 2026. He was once thought to be a candidate himself, but publicly said he’s fine staying at Treasury. That hasn’t stopped Steve from pushing the idea anyway.
Steve lasted only seven months as Trump’s White House strategist before getting fired. Still, he’s close to Trump and clearly feels comfortable tossing out these kinds of proposals.
The White House, on the other hand, isn’t amused. “Such an arrangement is not being and has never been considered by the White House,” a spokesman said. The idea was immediately shut down.
White House rejects plan as Scott leads search for Powell’s replacement
There’s no real example of this happening before. Before the Banking Act of 1935, the Treasury Secretary did sit on the Fed’s board, but the chair role wasn’t created until later. Janet Yellen ran the Fed and then the Treasury, but those jobs were years apart. Scott doing both at once — even if temporary — would break that mold completely.
Right now, Scott is running the process to find Powell’s successor. Reports say there are 11 names on the list. He was once on it too, until he said he wasn’t interested. Still, Steve thinks Scott should hold both posts until midterms, then leave Treasury and stay on as Fed boss. It’s not clear if anyone else in Trump’s circle supports that plan.
Trump has repeatedly slammed the Fed for not slashing interest rates more. He wants a Fed that moves fast — his way. That pressure could be why Steve wants someone loyal like Scott at the top. But making him do both jobs, even for a few months, would raise serious legal, policy, and political questions.
Fed’s Miran dismisses tariff inflation and calls for deeper rate cuts
While Steve is pushing personnel moves, Fed Governor Stephen Miran is focused on policy. He voted against the Fed’s decision this week to cut rates by 0.25%. He wanted a 0.5% cut instead. Speaking on CNBC’s “Money Movers” Friday, Miran said he doesn’t think Trump’s tariffs will cause inflation.
“I’m clearly in the minority in not being concerned about inflation from tariffs,” Miran said. “But that was also true in 2018-2019, and I think I probably could take a little victory lap about that.”
He said he hasn’t seen any real evidence that tariffs are pushing up prices. “If you thought tariffs are driving inflation higher, you’d think imports would be differentially inflating at a higher pace,” he said.
Miran also said the difference between inflation in U.S. core goods and other countries is tiny. “If I thought that tariffs were driving any material inflation in the United States, I’d look for evidence,” he added.
Even so, the Fed’s own data says inflation is still above 2%, and might not fall back to target until 2028. Only Miran wanted the Fed to move faster on cutting rates. The rest of the 12-member committee didn’t agree, as Cryptopolitan reported.
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