WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Thom Tillis from North Carolina suggested Thursday he could support a compromise that would allow the Senate Banking Committee to start hearings on Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to chair the Federal Reserve.
“What I heard being floated could be an off-ramp,” Tillis told reporters Thursday after a meeting of Senate Republicans. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has suggested that the banking committee, rather than the Justice Department, investigate cost overruns on the Fed’s $2.5 billion renovation of two Washington, D.C., office buildings, according to other senators at the meeting.
Tillis said last month that he would block any consideration of Warsh or any other Trump nominees to the Fed until the Justice Department drops a criminal investigation of Fed chair Jerome Powell over his testimony last summer about the renovation. Tillis on Thursday reiterated that view in comments on the Senate floor.
The investigation was revealed last month by Powell in an unusually blunt video statement, in which he said it was part of an effort by the Trump administration to force the Fed to lower its key interest rate. The Justice Department has subpoenaed Powell over comments he made about the building renovation during testimony before the banking committee last June.
“I will not allow any board member for the Federal Reserve to go through the banking committee, for chair or replacement of expired terms, until this matter is settled,” Tillis said.
“I have no problem with us having an investigation," he added, “like we should with so many other areas of government. I'd like to have oversight for the East Wing construction, to make sure that stays on target and doesn't go over budget.”
The Trump administration last year tore down the East Wing of the White House to add a large ballroom.
Tillis also said on the Senate floor that “vindictive prosecution is wrong, period," and added that the investigation threatened the Fed's longtime independence from day-to-day politics.
“If we're going to accuse someone of criminal behavior because of a project overrun in federal government, we better start budgeting a lot more for prisons,” Tillis said.
At the Senate Republicans’ private retreat this week they discussed Bessent’s idea of having the Senate Banking Committee take on the Powell investigation, said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.
Kennedy described it as more of a “trial balloon” than a plan.
“All I heard was the Treasury Secretary thinking out loud, he raised the issue — he didn’t recommend it — he just raised it,” Kennedy said.
Tillis told reporters Thursday that he supports Trump's nomination of Warsh, who he said “is a great nominee.”
Tillis also said on the Senate floor that he had a list of seven GOP senators on the banking committee who did not think Powell committed a crime during his “two minutes of testimony” about the renovation project.
Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
FILE - Kevin Warsh speaks to the media about his report on transparency at the Bank of England, in London, Dec., 11, 2014. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool, File)
LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — Some might say the seeds of an Olympic-sized surprise in snowboarding were planted a month ago. That’s when Chloe Kim went skittering down a halfpipe in Switzerland, smashing her shoulder and turning her run for a third straight gold medal into a less-than-perfect scramble.
Kim herself saw it coming years ago. One of her favorite kids and protégés, Gaon Choi of South Korea, kept showing up at halfpipes for practice earlier than anyone else. She kept trying tricks no one else would dare.
Even with Kim at less than 100 percent, and with the halfpipe slowed by a steady light snow that turned Thursday night into an Italian-Alps postcard, and with the hype, and pressure, of making history hovering over everything — Kim wasn't going to just give it away. Someone would have to take down the sport's best rider.
That person was Choi. The 17-year-old overcame a brutal fall at the beginning of the night to post the highest score in the third and final round. Then, in an even bigger surprise, Kim had a chance to top her, but couldn’t.
If the new silver medalist was sad about that, it didn't show.
“She’s my baby,” Kim said of Choi, who is the same age she was when she won her first Olympic title eight years ago in South Korea. “Now I think I know how my mentors felt when I came on the stage.”
It was never inevitable that Kim, now 25, would win this contest. Since her last Olympic victory four years ago, Choi and a few other riders from Asia in the final have been steadily upping the difficulty on a halfpipe.
Kim, meanwhile, fell out of love with a sport that was growing too repetitive, too predictable.
“Doing the same thing over and over and winning didn't feel good,” she said. “I started to resent snowboarding.”
Then, she fell back in love — heartened by the prospect of trying new things. There were double-corks and 1440-degree spins in her repertoire, all ready to be spread out like Christmas presents with the whole world watching when the Olympics came around.
The shoulder injury in Switzerland changed all the math. It cut down on Kim's practice time. It made her vulnerable, questionable. She wore a brace on the shoulder. She revealed she would need surgery when she returns home.
“It was really scary for me to come back,” she said. “I was telling my coach and my therapist, I wished I'd fallen doing a trick, because when I do a trick, I know I can fall. However, when I dislocated my shoulder, I was in the flat bottom, and for some reason, I was so scared of riding through the damn flat bottom.”
The strain on Kim's psyche and her limited practice time certainly played a role in all this.
Then, there’s snowboarding itself.
Just this week at the Livigno Snow Park, two other women had a chance to become the first snowboarders to three-peat for the first time since the sport joined the Games back in 1998.
Ester Ledecka, the world's best in parallel giant slalom, flamed out early in her contest.
Anna Gasser watched a new generation of leapers beat her in big air.
Four years ago, the bad vibes from COVID-19 put a damper on Jamie Anderson's attempt in slopestyle.
In 2014 in Russia, Shaun White tried for his own three-peat and failed.
He, along with Kim's boyfriend, Myles Garrett, and Snoop Dogg, wearing a USA jacket with Kim’s face plastered on the front, were at the bottom of the pipe, waiting to watch some history.
An hour after the contest, White, who has seen a lot over the years, was still trying to sort out what happened.
“It’s a wild sport,” he said. “You can get injured. Someone can learn a new trick overnight. There’s a lot of variables. It’s never a sure thing.”
It did not, in White's eyes, diminish Kim's impact on snowboarding.
“She’s a legend. She’s got two golds. She’s no stranger to pressure. It just wasn’t her night, I think,” he said.
But it sure did start out as her night. Choi, whose “1” on her bib signified her ranking on the points list this season, was widely viewed as the biggest threat to a Kim dynasty.
But on her first run, she lost her bearings on a leap above the halfpipe and her board slammed harshly on the deck. Her knees collapsed and she skidded limply to the bottom. The music stopped and the festive crowd fell silent.
About five minutes passed and a stretcher came out. But suddenly, Choi popped up and rode to the bottom.
“I cried and clenched my teeth and started walking and felt the energy came back into my legs,” Choi said. “I thought, I can keep trying and I could get back into these Games.”
Kim's first run, meanwhile, was a technical masterpiece that included a Cab double-cork 1080. That's two flips with a twist, a trick she became the first woman to land in a contest last year and that hardly anyone else can do.
It put her in the lead and when Choi and the rest struggled in Round 2, this looked like it would play out like Kim's other two Olympic victories: A win secured and a chance to put on a show.
With the lead and nobody pushing her, she tried not one, but two double corks in her second run but fell.
It turned out to be her last, best chance.
Choi's winning run in Round 3 was a technically precise marvel. It included three 900-degree spins, all approaching the wall from different directions. The landings were smooth. At the bottom, Choi covered her face with her mittens. A gasp rang out when her score was posted: 90.25 — 2.25 more than the champion.
Right about then, the snow picked up.
And then, about 10 minutes later, came something nobody had seen on an Olympic halfpipe: Kim, the last rider to drop, facing an all-or-nothing run that would be the difference between a dynasty and an upset.
“I noticed the wall started to get a little sticky, but that's part of the competition,” Kim said of the intensifying snow. “No excuses here. I should've made that mental note when I made my first” jump of the last run.
Kim didn't make it past her first double cork. She skidded down the halfpipe, bounced back up, dusted herself off and rode down. She hugged bronze medalist Mitsuki Ono of Japan, then rushed over to Choi to join a swarm of Korean coaches who were hugging the new champion.
“I’m a winner because I was able to persevere and fight through,” Kim said.
Even though her protégé got the gold, the former champion said that felt like a win to her, too.
“I'm so damn proud of her,” Kim said. “Although we are in an individual sport, it means so much to me to know I've inspired a whole new generation. I'm aware that I can't do this forever.”
Associated Press writer Joseph Wilson contributed to this report.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
United States' Chloe Kim and Cleveland Browns' Myles Garrett hug after Kim won the silver medal in the women's snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
From left, silver medalist United States' Chloe Kim, gold medalist South Korea's Choi Ga-on and bronze medalist Japan's Mitsuki Ono celebrate after the women's snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
South Korea's Choi Ga-on competes during the women's snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Gold medalist South Korea's Choi Ga-on reacts after winning the women's snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Silver medalist United States' Chloe Kim, left, claps as gold medalist South Korea's Choi Ga-on celebrates winning the the women's snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
United States' Chloe Kim reacts after her second run during the women's snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
United States' Chloe Kim competes during the women's snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Cleveland Browns' Myles Garrett and United States' Chloe Kim kiss after Kim won the silver medal in the women's snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
South Korea's Choi Ga-on celebrates with team members after her run during the women's snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
United States' Chloe Kim waits for her score during the women's snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
United States' Chloe Kim crashes during the women's snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
South Korea's Choi Ga-on reacts to her run during the women's snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
