NEC director Kevin Hassett says Fed chair Kevin Warsh is not seeking White House input on interest rates

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Monday that Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is not seeking advice from the White House on monetary policy, responding to questions about whether the Trump administration is influencing interest-rate decisions. Hassett made the remarks on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” with host Joe Kernen. Asked directly about Warsh’s relationship to the White House on interest rates, Hassett said, “We’re very close friends,” adding, “We’ve known each other for 30 years,” and saying, “We definitely talk,” according to the interview. Despite those personal ties, Hassett said Warsh is not soliciting economic guidance from the White House. “The point is, he’s not asking the White House for advice,” Hassett said, according to the report. Hassett’s comments come as the Federal Reserve continues to set monetary policy independently of the executive branch, including through decisions related to interest rates. The interview addresses a recurring political concern about the separation between federal monetary policymaking and the White House’s economic agenda. The remarks also clarify that, in Hassett’s account, any contact between the two is limited to discussion among acquaintances rather than an information channel between the National Economic Council and the central bank. Hassett’s framing focused on what Warsh is not doing, rather than detailing any shared policy ideas. The Hill report frames the exchange as part of a broader public debate over whether there is any coordination between the White House and the Federal Reserve. In the CNBC interview, Hassett did not describe specific policy proposals, rate targets, or internal White House deliberations connected to monetary policy. Hassett’s statements are confined to the interview and do not constitute an official policy determination by either the National Economic Council or the Federal Reserve. The episode underscores the expectation, particularly during periods of heightened scrutiny, that monetary-policy decisions remain insulated from direct executive-branch direction. No official White House document, Federal Register filing, or Federal Reserve action was described in the reported account, and the central point in the coverage is the denial, by a senior White House economic official, that the administration is being consulted on interest-rate policy by the Fed chair.

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