{"text":[[{"start":10.55,"text":"Kevin Warsh rejected the accusation he would be a “sock puppet” of Donald Trump as the president’s pick to run the Federal Reserve faced a grilling from US senators about his plans for the central bank."}],[{"start":22.25,"text":"In a confident performance before the Senate banking committee on Tuesday, Warsh denied Trump had asked him to reduce interest rates during the interview process. "}],[{"start":30.95,"text":"“The president never asked me to predetermine, commit, fix or decide on any interest rate decision, in any of our discussions,” the Fed nominee said. “Nor would I ever agree to do so.”"}],[{"start":42.55,"text":"Warsh’s tense confirmation hearing came amid heightened concerns over the Fed’s independence, triggered by Trump’s frequent calls for the central bank to slash US borrowing costs. "}],[{"start":53.75,"text":"The White House has also launched a criminal investigation into current Fed chair Jay Powell over his handling of cost overruns for the central bank’s $2.5bn refurbishment of its headquarters, which he says is an attempt to press officials into making rate cuts. "}],[{"start":70.85,"text":"Democrats met Warsh’s assurances over the central bank’s independence with scepticism. Elizabeth Warren, the committee’s top Democrat, said he was “uniquely ill-suited for the job of Fed chair”."}],[{"start":82.69999999999999,"text":"“Trump has made clear that you are his sock puppet, saying last week that interest rates will drop ‘when Kevin gets in,’” she said."}],[{"start":90.19999999999999,"text":"In an uncomfortable exchange that laid bare the political pressures Warsh is likely to face as Trump’s nominee, he declined to answer Warren when she asked whether he thought the president had lost the 2020 election — which Trump claims, without evidence, to have won. “We try to keep politics out of the Fed,” Warsh said. "}],[{"start":109.54999999999998,"text":"Ahead of the hearing Trump said the US should have the lowest interest rates in the world — namechecking the Swiss central bank, which has a benchmark interest rate of zero. The Fed’s benchmark range is between 3.5 per cent and 3.75 per cent. "}],[{"start":125.24999999999999,"text":"The president has recently threatened to fire Powell should he remain at the central bank beyond the official end of his second term on May 15. Trump also attempted to sack Fed governor Lisa Cook last summer in a case now before the Supreme Court. "}],[{"start":139.14999999999998,"text":"Warsh said Trump’s calls for aggressive rate cuts were in line with historical norms: “I’ve heard his view on interest rates and it sounded very similar to me to every other president in economic history.”"}],[{"start":151.39999999999998,"text":"The hearing was one hurdle Warsh will need to clear if he is to be confirmed as Powell’s replacement. "}],[{"start":157.45,"text":"Tim Scott, the Republican committee chair, has yet to set a date for a vote on Warsh’s nomination, which would require a majority of the 24 senators before the full Senate can vote as well."}],[{"start":167.95,"text":"But that is unlikely to happen if the probe of Powell continues, with North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis insisting he will block the nomination from advancing out of the committee stage until the investigation is dropped."}],[{"start":182.1,"text":"Tillis railed against the Department of Justice probe at the committee hearing, saying: “If we put everybody in prison in federal government that had had a budget go over, we’d have to reserve an area roughly the size of Texas for a penal colony.”"}],[{"start":196.1,"text":"Powell has said he believes he has the right to remain at the helm of the Fed if Warsh is not confirmed in the Senate when his term expires, setting up another legal battle should Trump carry out his threat to fire him. "}],[{"start":207.85,"text":"Warsh is estimated to hold at least $130mn in assets, many of which he listed as confidential on financial disclosures he filed last week. "}],[{"start":216.4,"text":"Warren on Tuesday called on him to disclose when he planned to sell some of his “secret” assets and to confirm whether he had holdings in any companies affiliated with the president. "}],[{"start":227,"text":"The nominee replied he had “come to full agreement” with the Office of Government Ethics on divesting the assets to meet government rules and was likely to invest the proceeds in cash and Treasury bonds. "}],[{"start":239.85,"text":"Warsh, who previously served as a Fed governor, also promised that if confirmed he would “hit the ground running” in carrying out far-reaching reforms to the world’s leading central bank, focusing on shrinking its balance sheet and overhauling the way it engages with the public. "}],[{"start":255.2,"text":"“My experience of the Fed, my understanding of the people, the culture, the governance and the things that are ripe for reform are going to give me a leg up,” he told senators. “What the Fed needs is reform to its frameworks and reforms to its communications.”"}],[{"start":270.75,"text":"Additional reporting by Amelia Pollard and Kate Duguid in New York"}],[{"start":283.85,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1776835751_6977.mp3"}