Trump appoints a fellow critic of Fed's Jay Powell to key seat at the central bank
If confirmed by the Senate, Stephen Moran's appointment will give Trump an ally on the Fed board tasked with setting borrowing rates in the U.S.
Stephen Miran, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, following a television interview outside the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (Aaron Schwartz/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon said he was appointing his top White House economic advisor Stephen Miran to temporarily replace an outgoing Federal Reserve official on the Board of Governors.
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Last week, Federal Reserve Governor Adriana Kugler stepped down from her post months ahead of her term's expected end in January. The surprise early vacancy offered Trump a fresh opportunity to put his stamp on the central bank, as he wages an unsparing campaign against Fed Chair Jerome Powell to slash interest rates.
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“It is my Great Honor to announce that I have chosen Dr. Stephen Miran, current Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, to serve in the just vacated seat on the Federal Reserve Board until January 31, 2026,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “In the meantime, we will continue to search for a permanent replacement.”
The Senate must still confirm Miran before his temporary Fed appointment is finalized. He was last confirmed by the Senate in March to helm Trump’s economic advisory panel in a party-line vote with Democrats united in opposition. Yet the announcement is likely to give Trump an ally on the 12-member Fed board tasked with steering monetary policy and setting borrowing costs in the U.S.
Miran served as a senior Treasury advisor in the first Trump administration, and later added stints at the right-leaning Manhattan Institute and worked at Hudson Bay Capital Management, a hedge fund.
During Trump's second term, Miran has been a stalwart defender of Trump's economic agenda, backing tariffs and criticizing Powell. Earlier on Thursday, Miran praised Christopher Waller in a Bloomberg interview, who also sits on the Fed's Board of Governors, saying he does not have "tariff derangement syndrome" that "others at the Fed have succumbed to."
The Federal Reserve has voted five times this year to keep interest rates at the same benchmark 4.25% to 4.5% range. Powell has said Fed officials want to better determine the impact of the tariffs through the economy before cutting interest rates. The decisions have ignited fury from Trump, who argues the Fed is keeping a lid on economic growth.
Miran drew scrutiny from investors and analysts late last year for authoring a 41-page plan to weaken the U.S. dollar through a fusillade of unilateral tariffs, aiming to boost exports and remake global trade. He later distanced himself from it.