Trump’s search for Treasury pick widens

WEST PALM BEACH: US President-elect Donald Trump has so far not expressed his full satisfaction with any nominee for Treasury secretary after the search stalled over the weekend with him looking at other candidates, two sources briefed on the matter said Monday.

Among the names now being considered are Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, two sources said, and former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh, according to a separate source briefed on the matter, confirming earlier reports by The New York Times and of the Wall Street Journal. .

Several names have been floated as possible for the position in the new Trump administration, but no announcement has been made. But the team that made the selection has now widened the search, the two sources said Monday.

Billionaire investor John Paulson was initially one of the main contenders, but dropped out of the race last week, citing “complex financial obligations.” That left another main contender, investor Scott Bessent, although banker Howard Lutnick also emerged as a front-runner, Reuters reported last week. Many other people have also speculated about the position.

Bloomberg reported Monday that Bessent is being considered for the White House’s National Economic Council, but is holding off on acceptance until a decision is made on the Treasury secretary.

Warsh, 54, is a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University with a long history of hawkish views on both inflation and deficits.

A former mergers and acquisitions banker at Morgan Stanley, Warsh was a White House economic policy adviser from 2002 to 2006 and was then appointed by then-President George W. Bush as a governor on the seven-member Federal Reserve Board.

Warsh left the Fed in 2011, just months after he joined his colleagues in unanimously supporting an expansion of the Fed’s bond-buying program and then went public with his reservations about expanding the central bank’s balance sheet.

Rowan is CEO of Apollo, one of the world’s largest investors in alternative assets such as corporate credit and private equity, succeeding Leon Black in 2021.

Rowan and Warsh did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for Bessent declined to comment. A spokesman for Lutnick declined to comment.

It was unclear if any candidates had been ruled out or if other names could be added to the mix.

Compete for a top role

The role of finance secretary is one of the highest cabinet posts, overseeing the country’s financial and economic policy. As such, it is one of the key roles that global investors and Wall Street are watching.

The leading candidates have gathered public supporters as the process has intensified.

Among Bessent’s supporters are Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, according to an article last week in Semafor, and investor Kyle Bass, who wrote in X last week that Bessent would be the best choice for markets and citizens.

“I support Bessent 100%,” Bass said via text message to Reuters. “As Treasury Secretary, you must have a thorough understanding of the bond market, global payment flows, geopolitics, people, financial market flows, inflation and the federal budget. Scott is far and away the best candidate for the position .”

Bass added that Bessent was not part of the weekend’s “drama” over who would take the seat. “He has remained silent and is working on solutions for President Trump,” Bass wrote.

A spokesman for Graham said Monday that he is retaining his position.

Other supporters include Larry Kudlow, who recently said he was a “big fan” of Bessent and that she was his “first choice” to lead the Treasury Department, according to a Nov. 11 Wall Street Journal story. and investor Stanley Druckenmiller, who has said Bessent, his former colleague at Soros Fund Management, was “the only guy I know who is not only a market participant, but very fluent and comfortable in academia,” according to an Axios story in November. 13.

Kudlow did not respond to a request for comment. A representative for Druckenmiller did not respond to a request for comment.

Conservative economist and Trump adviser Steve Moore said last week that he strongly favored Bessent, as he has been a linchpin in the right-wing Washington movement pushing for deregulation and tax cuts to spur growth.

“I think most of the free market conservatives support Scott Bessent,” Moore told Reuters last week.

On the other hand, two of Trump’s top advisers, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is Trump’s pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services, sided with Lutnick for the position, sending supportive social media posts.

Musk did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment beyond his X post. A representative for Kennedy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As of Sunday, Trump was also considering Lutnick for another economic post, possibly that of commerce secretary, the source briefed on the matter told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. That source also said Trump’s former US trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, is being considered for Commerce. Lighthizer did not respond to a request for comment for Commerce.