A key aide to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is set to join the Federal Reserve as an adviser to Chair Kevin Warsh, according to two individuals familiar with the matter.
Samantha Schwab, who has served as Bessent's principal deputy chief of staff at the Treasury since April, joined the department in January 2025 and previously worked in the White House during former President Donald Trump's first term. It is currently unclear when she will formally assume her new advisory role at the Fed. A Fed spokesperson declined to comment, and a Treasury spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Personnel movement between the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department is not uncommon. Currently, markets and lawmakers are broadly focused on whether the Fed under Warsh's leadership will maintain closer ties with the Trump administration, including the Treasury. Warsh and Bessent have continued the tradition of weekly meetings between the Fed chair and the Treasury secretary.
Earlier on Wednesday, at a European Central Bank forum, Warsh emphasized the Fed's independence in setting its monetary policy path, despite ongoing pressure from Trump to cut interest rates. He stated, "The Federal Reserve has long been an independent central bank, it is and will remain independent, and that will not change."
Samantha Schwab is the granddaughter of billionaire Charles Schwab, who donated $1 million to Trump's 2017 inauguration committee. This appointment is the latest addition to Warsh's advisory team. Previously, he hired conservative policy analysts Paul Winfree and Daniel Heil as temporary advisers. Winfree served in the White House during Trump's first administration and authored the Federal Reserve reform recommendations chapter for the Heritage Foundation's "Project 2025"; Heil previously worked with Warsh at the Hoover Institution, specializing in fiscal policy and anti-poverty programs.
Furthermore, Warsh has appointed two senior Fed economists as advisers: Daniel Covitz, Deputy Director of the Division of Research and Statistics, and Eric Engstrom, Deputy Director of the Division of Monetary Affairs. Warsh said on Wednesday that the Fed may announce the expert members for five new working groups next week; these groups will review various aspects of the central bank's monetary policy formulation. Former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King will co-chair one of the groups focused on communication strategy.
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