Barely a few hours after President Donald Trump named him as the next nominee to chair the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh was revealed to be in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case files.
According to The New Republic, "Warsh’s name appears to be on an emailed list of guests to 'St. Barth’s Christmas 2010,' among others such as Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and disgraced director Brett Ratner. Warsh also appears on a list of people attending a dinner hosted by British aristocrat William Astor."
The nomination of Warsh, a bank executive and former Fed governor working at the conservative Hoover Institution, was considered surprising to some observers, as he is a relatively qualified and conventional pick at odds with Trump's recent demands for total Fed control — although Warsh has recently grown more supportive of Trump's desire for lower interest rates.
"Warsh has always been involved in monetary policy, having been appointed to the Fed in 2006. But his inclusion in the Epstein files is actually not surprising, considering that his wife is billionaire heiress Jane Lauder, granddaughter of Estée Lauder and daughter of Republican donor Ronald Lauder. That puts him in the same wealthy circles that Epstein himself operated in," noted the report. "Still, it’s unfortunate that this would happen on the same day that he was picked for the Fed. Before Friday’s release, Warsh’s biggest controversy was his connection to Ronald Lauder, who reportedly inspired Trump’s interest in Greenland during his first term in office. Lauder has purchased commercial interests on the island."
Even before the reveal of the Epstein link, however, Warsh was facing some obstacles to confirmation.
In particular, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) has made clear he will not back down from his hold on any nomination to the Fed, including Warsh, until the Trump administration backs down from their politically-charged criminal investigation into sitting Fed chair Jerome Powell.
