Don’t bank on Fed’s future clearing up before 2026

President Donald Trump said he will announce his pick to replace Jerome Powell as the next chair of the Federal Reserve in early 2026, delaying a Christmas deadline to do so.

“We‘ll be announcing somebody probably early next year for the new chairman of the Fed,” Trump said during a public Cabinet-level meeting at the White House. He reiterated a familiar string of attacks against Powell, who Trump has accused of sabotaging the economy by not turbocharging interest rate cuts.

The president labeled Powell “a real dope,” while also acknowledging he’d spoken to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about taking the job.

Bessent had earlier said that Trump’s pick could be unveiled by Christmas. Bessent has been helming the search for the next Fed chair and spent the last month interviewing the final five candidates that remain: Fed Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman; ex-Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, BlackRock investment executive Rick Rieder, and White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett.

Trump is known to change his mind on policy and personnel decisions, sticking by one until he doesn’t. A White House aide granted anonymity to share internal thinking told Quartz the timing of the Fed announcement was up to President Trump and he had never committed  to a timeline.

On Sunday, the president teased that he’d already made a decision on who will replace Powell once his term ends in May 2026. “I know who I am going to pick,” he told reporters at the time.

Hassett is viewed as the frontrunner for now, the Wall Street Journal reported.