Fed Chair Warsh makes first hires at central bank, including ‘Project 2025’ author
New Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, leaves the East Room of the White House following his swearing-in ceremony on May 22, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Aaron Schwartz | AFP | Getty Images
Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh has hired two conservative economic policy researchers to work with him at the central bank, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC.
The two researchers are Paul Winfree, author of the chapter on the Federal Reserve in the conservative policy plan “Project 2025,” and Daniel Heil of the Stanford Hoover Institution think tank, where Warsh worked before joining the Fed.
The pair “worked as temporary contractors to support Warsh in policy analysis and planning of special projects in the areas they work together over time,” the person said. Warsh has not yet made any other permanent hires, this person said.
Warsh’s personnel decisions will be closely scrutinized. His extensive network of advisors includes many prominent figures, including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, investor Stanley Druckenmiller and Chevron CEO Mike Wirth, all of whom were at the White House inauguration last month.
But Warsh appears to have relatively few close advisors who have worked at the Fed or other major central banks. Warsh established himself as an insider-turned-critic after serving as a Fed governor during the 2007-2008 financial crisis under Chairman Ben Bernanke.
While looking for a job, Warsh promised “regime change” at the Fed, telling an interviewer: in 2025 Doing so would require “some brain-breaking” at the central bank.
Recently, Warsh has softened his language about Fed staff. At the swearing-in ceremony, Warsh said his “goal now is to create an environment where the best people can do the best work of their lives.”
Winfree worked on the Domestic Policy Council in the first Trump administration and recently founded the Center for Economic Policy Innovation, a pro-Trump think tank.
His segment on “Project 2025” introduced a number of conservative ideas for reforming the Fed; some of these go beyond what Warsh discusses. Among the ideas Winfree considered was an end to the Fed’s so-called dual authority, a directive from Congress to set interest rates to maximize employment and stabilize prices. The Fed should instead focus on “protecting the dollar and reining in inflation,” Winfree wrote.
At the swearing-in ceremony, Warsh spoke positively about supporting both sides of the dual mission.
The Federal Reserve declined to comment for this story. The Wall Street Journal previously reported the hires.
