Trump is nominating Stephen Miran to temporarily fill vacancy at the Fed

By Bryan Mena, CNN

Washington (CNN) — President Donald Trump said Thursday he is nominating Stephen Miran to fill a vacancy at the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors on a temporary basis.

Miran is currently the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. He’s widely credited with creating the intellectual backbone of Trump’s expansive tariff policy and has been a critical voice in support of Trump’s economic agenda since assuming his role.

Miran is filling a vacancy left by Adriana Kugler, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden in 2023. Her term was slated to end in January, but last week she announced her resignation without citing a reason for her departure.

“I think that this seat is very important to the president,” Miran, who’s a critic of current Fed Chair Jerome Powell, told CNBC on Wednesday.

If confirmed by the Senate, Miran’s arrival would likely bring another voice at the Fed in support of lower interest rates. At the Fed’s July meeting, policymakers voted to hold borrowing costs steady for a fifth consecutive time, but more than one Fed governor dissented on the decision, the first time that has happened in more than three decades.

It’s unclear if the Senate will move swiftly enough to have Miran on the board by the time Fed policymakers convene for their September 16-17 policy meeting.

“The confirmation process is going to take a couple of weeks, maybe as much as two months,” Brian Gardner, chief Washington policy strategist at Stifel, told CNN.

If Miran is confirmed, he’d be in a position to be elevated as Fed chair. He’d also be taking the same route that other former Fed chairs have taken, such as Janet Yellen and Ben Bernanke, who led the CEA before helming America’s central bank.

According to Fed rules, the chair can be chosen only among current Fed governors, and Powell, whom Trump has attacked for months, has refused to reveal if he’s staying on the board after his term as chair ends in May 2026. Powell’s term on the board runs through 2028, so he could theoretically choose to stay as a Fed governor.

Fed chairs typically step down from the central bank’s board entirely after their term ends.

This story is developing and will be updated.

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CNN’s Phil Mattingly contributed to this report.