At Long Last, Thom Tillis Will Vote to Confirm Trump's Fed Chair Pick

Matt Vespa | April 28, 2026 6:00 AM

Outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who initially vowed to create chaos by blocking President Trump’s nominee for Federal Reserve chairman, has now announced he will no longer stand in the way. Tillis was planning to derail the nomination of Kevin Warsh, who is expected to replace Jerome Powell, the current Fed chair who has been a thorn in the side of the Trump White House due to his refusal to cut interest rates.

The uproar was over the federal investigation into the Federal Reserve’s office renovations; Trump claimed there could be misconduct. DC Attorney Jeanine Pirro shut down the inquiry, assigning Inspector General of the Fed, Michael Horowitz, to take over the review of the project's finances. It was after Pirro’s action that Tillis decided to get with the program (via CNBC):

News: Sen. @ThomTillis tells @kwelkernbc he WILL vote to confirm Kevin Warsh as Fed Chair

Says he worked over the weekend to get assurances from DOJ & has been assured Powell case is "fully and completely" settled and appeals are only for admin purposes, not to reopen the probe
— Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) April 26, 2026

Sen. Thom Tillis said Sunday he is willing to end his blockade of Federal Reserve chair nominee Kevin Warsh after the U.S. Department of Justice dropped its criminal investigation of Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
Warsh now has a clear path to replacing Powell as the next leader of the Fed when Powell’s term expires in mid-May. The Senate Banking Committee is set to vote on his confirmation on Wednesday, and the full Senate could take it up shortly after.
With Tillis’s support, the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Fed is all but assured.
“I am prepared to move on with the confirmation of Mr. Warsh, I think he’s going to be a great Fed chair,” Tillis, R-N.C., said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We were very clear that we have assurances from the DOJ that I needed to make sure they were not using the DOJ as a weapon to threaten the independence of the Fed. So this will allow Mr. Warsh to move on with his confirmation on time.”