President Donald Trump is expected to name a successor to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday, a day after the White House met with former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, a critic of the central bank who has argued it needs a "regime change" to restore lost credibility. Speaking to reporters at the Kennedy Center on Thursday, Trump stated he would announce his choice the following morning, describing the individual as someone who "could have been there years ago." He added, "I think it's going to be a very good choice. Hopefully." A source later indicated that Warsh, 55, had met with Trump at the White House. During his first term, Trump had passed over Warsh in favor of Powell, a choice he later regretted when Powell was unwilling to cut interest rates as quickly or as deeply as Trump had urged. This time, Trump has made supporting lower interest rates a clear criterion for the Fed chair candidate. Warsh, like the three other individuals identified by Trump officials as finalists for the role, has expressed the view that the Fed should have cut rates more aggressively than it has. Trump's nominee to succeed Powell will require confirmation by the Senate, a process unfolding against the backdrop of an unprecedented presidential effort to exert control over the Fed. Traditionally, the central bank's insulation from political pressure has been considered crucial to its inflation-fighting mission. Trump's efforts have included an attempt to remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook amid a case pending before the Supreme Court, as well as a Justice Department investigation that Powell characterized as part of a broad government attempt to intimidate the Fed. Powell's term as chair expires in May, and he has declined to say whether he would take the unusual step of remaining on the Fed's Board of Governors. Doing so would prevent Trump from filling another vacancy on the Fed and complicate the leadership of the central bank under a new chair. Powell's term as a board member runs until 2028. Trump's promise of a Friday announcement came just hours after he had indicated the selection would be revealed next week. A presidential schedule released by the White House later on Thursday did not explicitly point to the event. Trump's White House schedule showed an executive order signing ceremony set for late morning, followed by a policy meeting in the afternoon. Warsh Faces Scrutiny Trump's Fed chair pick may face another challenge: a key Republican lawmaker, Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, has threatened to block any Fed nominee until the Justice Department investigation is resolved. Warsh—who served as a Fed governor from 2006 to 2011, acted as the chief liaison between then-Fed Chair Ben Bernanke and Wall Street during the 2008 financial crisis, and was a proponent of tight monetary policy—has stated in recent months that he believes Trump was correct to demand significant rate cuts from the central bank. Warsh has also criticized the Fed for underestimating the potential for AI-driven productivity gains to disrupt inflation. With his Wall Street background, including a partnership in the office managing the fortune of investment giant Stanley Druckenmiller, and family ties to major Trump supporter Ron Lauder, Warsh will face intense scrutiny to prove his independence from the president. Although not a White House insider, Warsh has been a confidant of the president and a guest at his Florida estate, positioning him as a "shadow" Fed chair who appears poised to advance Trump's priorities once Powell's term concludes in mid-May. A lawyer and a distinguished visiting fellow in economics at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, Warsh has called for a thorough overhaul of the central bank, including shrinking its balance sheet and rolling back banking regulations. He argues that reducing the balance sheet could "redeploy" excess liquidity from financial markets into the real economy by lowering the Fed's policy rate. This argument has not gained traction within the current Fed, which this week held its benchmark rate steady in the 3.50%-3.75% range and signaled no rush to cut rates in the near term, despite having implemented three rate cuts in 2025. The central bank has also recently halted the reduction of its balance sheet as part of a strategy to maintain ample bank reserves, thereby improving its control over the policy rate. Other candidates for the Fed chair position include Rick Rieder, Chief Investment Officer of Global Fixed Income at BlackRock; Fed Governor Christopher Waller, one of two dissenting voters in this week's decision to hold rates steady; and White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett, an unabashed supporter of many of the president's heterodox policies, including high tariffs and a crackdown on immigration.