The fight over the next Fed chair is spilling out across D.C. and Wall Street

Industry titans, Trump allies weigh in during final days of a sharp-elbowed campaign to succeed Jerome Powell

- Brian Schwartz & Nick Timiraos

Animating the contest is Trump's white-hot resentment over having picked Fed Chair Jerome Powell. REUTERS

(REUTERS)

President Trump told aides and allies in early December that he wasn’t sold on picking former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh to lead the central bank, according to people familiar with the matter.

Trump said at a cabinet meeting he had narrowed his list to one. Interviews with other contenders were suddenly canceled. Everything pointed to Kevin Hassett, a longtime economic adviser who runs the National Economic Council.

Then came the reality-TV show plot twist. Warsh was suddenly back in contention with what Trump viewed as a strong interview last week, according to an administration official. Fed governor Christopher Waller is also in the running, interviewing with Trump this week and picking up backing from corporate chiefs. Rick Rieder, a senior executive at BlackRock, is scheduled to be interviewed by Trump at the president's private Florida club Mara-Lago during the last week of the year, according to a senior administration official.

A fight over the next Fed chair is playing out in Washington and on Wall Street, with industry titans and Trump allies taking sides and the candidates themselves jockeying for position.

Some Wall Street insiders have been advocating for Warsh, calling administration officials to make the case for him with the goal of edging Hassett out of contention, according to people familiar with the outreach. The campaign has focused, in part, on the argument that Hassett is too close to Trump to have credibility with bond markets as an independent Fed chair. Some in Trump's orbit have grown frustrated by the maneuvering.