Tillis says he's ready to move ahead with confirming Warsh as Trump's pick as Fed chair

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican senator who had effectively blocked confirmation of President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve said Sunday he was dropping his opposition after the Department of Justice ended its investigation of the current central bank chair.

The announcement by Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina removes a big hurdle to Trump's effort to install Kevin Warsh, a former high-ranking Fed official, in the job in place of Jerome Powell, long under White House pressure to lower interest rates. Tillis' opposition was enough to stall the nomination in the GOP-controlled Senate Banking Committee as Powell neared the scheduled end of his term on May 15.

“I am prepared to move on with the confirmation of Mr. Warsh. I think he’s going to be a great Fed chair,” Tillis told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” two days after the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia said her office’s investigation of the Fed’s multibillion-dollar building renovations was over. Powell's brief congressional testimony last summer about that work was also under review.

The Fed's internal watchdog is scrutinizing a project, now at $2.5 billion after earlier estimates had put it at $1.9 billion, that the Republican president has criticized for cost overruns. Powell had asked in July for the inspector general's review.

“I believe that there will not be any wrongdoing. Maybe we find a little stupid here in terms of somebody responsible for the project making a decision they shouldn't? Maybe. But it doesn’t rise to a criminal prosecution. That was my problem to begin with because I feel like there were prosecutors in D.C. that thought this was going to be a lever to have Mr. Powell leave early," he said.

Tillis, who infuriated Trump in June for opposing his big tax and spending cuts bill over Medicaid reductions and then announced he would not seek reelection in 2026, added that he had received assurances from the Justice Department that “the case is completely and fully settled … and that the only way an investigation would be opened would be a criminal referral from one of the most respect inspector generals.”

The committee on Saturday said it planned to vote Wednesday on Warsh's nomination. The ranking Democrat, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, responded with a statement that "no Republican claiming to care about Fed independence should support moving forward the nomination of Kevin Warsh, who proved in his nomination hearing to be nothing more than President Trump’s sock puppet.”

Also Wednesday, Fed policymakers will meet and are expected to keep their key interest rate unchanged for the third straight meeting, shrugging off Trump's demands for a cut. At a news conference, Powell could indicate whether he will remain on the Fed's board of governors after his term as chair ends, an unusual but not completely unprecedented step that would deny Trump the opportunity to fill another seat on the seven-member board. Powell's term as a governor lasts until January 2028.

At a hearing last week, Warsh told senators he never promised the White House that he would cut interest rates and pledged to be “an independent actor” if confirmed as chair. Hours before that, Trump had been asked in a CNBC interview whether he would be disappointed if Warsh did not immediately cut rates. “I would,” the president said.

Without the constraints of a political campaign, Tillis has spoken out forcefully about Powell, decrying the inquiry by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, a longtime Trump ally, as a “vindictive prosecution” and suggested it threatened the Fed’s longtime independence from day-to-day politics. Tillis told NBC that he had gotten assurances from the Justice Department that he needed "to feel like they were not using DOJ as a weapon to threaten the independence of the Fed. So this will allow Mr. Warsh to move on with his confirmation.”

On Saturday, Trump was asked by reporters whether there was now smooth sailing for Warsh with the end of the Justice Department's investigation. “I imagine it's smooth,” Trump said, adding that his nominee “is going to be fantastic.” The president said he still wanted to find out “how can a building of that size cost ... whatever it’s going to be.”

Trump visited the Fed building in July and, in front of television cameras, said the renovations would run $3.1 billion. Powell, standing next to him, said after looking at a paper presented to him by Trump, that the president's latest price tag was incorrect.

The investigation was among several undertaken by the Justice Department into Trump’s perceived adversaries. For months it had failed to gain traction as prosecutors struggled to articulate a basis to suspect criminal conduct. Other efforts by the department to prosecute Trump’s adversaries, including New York state Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, and former FBI Director James Comey, have also been unsuccessful.

Last month, a federal judge quashed Justice Department subpoenas issued to the Fed in the investigation, describing their purpose as “to harass and pressure Powell to resign” and open the path for a new chair. A prosecutor handling the Powell case had acknowledged at a closed-door court hearing that the government had not found any evidence of a crime.

Pirro said Friday on X that she “will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so.” The acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, told NBC on Sunday that ”there is no doubt that we will investigate" if the inspector general finds evidence of criminal conduct.

Warsh is a financier and former member of the Fed’s board of governors. Trump nominated him in January.

FILE - President Donald Trump listens to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speak during a visit to the Federal Reserve, July 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., speaks during the confirmation hearing of Kevin Warsh, nominee for Federal Reserve chair, on Capitol Hill, in Washington Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Kevin Warsh testifies during his nomination hearing to be a member and chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill, in Washington Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

FILE - Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell addresses students at Harvard University, March 30, 2026, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., speaks during the confirmation hearing of Kevin Warsh, nominee for Federal Reserve chair, on Capitol Hill, in Washington Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Two Israeli political heavyweights on Sunday said they would join forces in upcoming elections in a shared effort to unseat longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid served as prime ministers in a rotation agreement as part of a coalition government they formed in 2021. They now plan to merge their parties into single faction headed by Bennett.

“The move is intended to unite the bloc, put an end to internal divisions and focus all efforts on winning the critical upcoming elections,” Lapid's Yesh Atid party said in a statement.

Bennett and Lapid scheduled a joint news conference later on Sunday.

The 2021 coalition agreement ended 12 years of Netanyahu rule. Bennett served as prime minister for the first year until their coalition fractured. Lapid then held the top job as caretaker prime minister for the final six months until new elections brought Netanyahu back to power.

Lapid has served as Israel's opposition leader since that time, while Bennett took a break from politics.

The two men have ideological differences. Bennett is an Orthodox Jew with hard-line views toward the Palestinians, while Lapid is secular and seen as more moderate. But they enjoyed a close working relationship during their short-lived coalition.

Their alliance is aimed at uniting a fragmented opposition that appears to have little in common beyond their shared hostility toward Netanyahu.

Israel's then caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid, right, talks with former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. (Ronaldo Schemidt/Pool Photo via AP)