Senate Democrats move to stall Trump’s ‘absurd’ bid to install new Fed chair
Democrats have moved to stall Donald Trump’s effort to exert greater control over the US Federal Reserve, condemning the president’s “absurd” bid to install a new leader of the central bank while it is targeted with criminal investigations.Democratic lawmakers on the Senate banking committee urged its Republican leadership on Thursday to postpone the planned confirmation hearing for Kevin Warsh, the financial executive and former Fed governor Trump has nominated to replace Jerome Powell as Fed chair.In a letter to banking committee chair Senator Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, the 11 Democrats called for a hearing currently scheduled for Tuesday to be delayed until investigations into Powell and Lisa Cook, a current Fed governor, are closed.Powell – whom the president has frequently and publicly chastised over his refusal to dramatically lower interest rates – is facing a criminal investigation into the renovations of the central bank’s headquarters, which he dismissed as a “pretext” tied to the Fed’s refusal to bow to Trump’s demands.The Trump administration also tried to fire Cook, an appointee of Joe Biden, for alleged mortgage fraud.
Cook has denied wrongdoing, and the president’s attempt to fire her has made its way to the US supreme court, where justices appeared skeptical of the case for terminating Cook,The Democratic senators wrote in their letter to Scott: “It would be absurd on its face to allow President Trump to handpick the next chair of the Federal Reserve as his Department of Justice actively pursues criminal investigations of not one, but two sitting members of the Federal Reserve board,It would also be inappropriate to move forward with Mr Warsh’s nomination as the president publicly threatens the federal judge who found the DoJ’s probe to lack merit,”Meanwhile, Trump has continued to rail against James Boasberg, the chief judge of the DC district court, who blocked the US justice department from seeking testimony from Powell over his remarks to Congress on the Fed’s renovation project,Boasberg said in his 27-page ruling last month: “A mountain of evidence suggests that the government served these subpoenas on the board to pressure its chair into voting for lower interest rates or resigning.
”In response, Trump on Truth Social called Boasberg “wacky, nasty, crooked, and totally out of control”.In a statement to the Guardian, the White House said that it was focused on working with the the Senate to “swiftly confirm” Warsh to lead the Fed.“[His] academic credentials, private sector success, and prior experience on the Fed Board of Governors make him eminently qualified to restore confidence and competence in Fed decision-making,” said Kush Desai, a spokesperson.Elizabeth Warren, the banking committee’s top Democrat, told reporters that she still had “deep concerns” that Warsh, if confirmed, would be a “sock puppet” for the president.Following a meeting with Warsh on Thursday, Warren also expressed concern that he appeared in the Epstein files, although he “claims to have zero knowledge of anything related to this”.
Inclusion in the files does not imply wrongdoing.In February, a trove of documents released by the justice department related to the late sex-offender included a list shared with Epstein titled “St.Barth’s Christmas 2010”, where Warsh and his wife, Jane Lauder, are named.Warsh’s nomination also faces hurdles from within the president’s own party.The outgoing GOP senator Thom Tillis, a deciding vote on the banking committee, has said repeatedly he would not support any nomination as long as there is an investigation into Powell.
John Thune, the Republican Senate majority leader, even called on the justice to “wrap up” its inquiry into the Fed chair.“I think it’s in everybody’s best interest to wrap up the investigation,” he said.Trump, however, went on a lengthy tangent during a Fox Business interview this week about the Fed’s renovations, alleging without evidence that it “is probably corrupt, but what it really is is incompetence”.He seemed unfazed by the possibility that Tillis could block Warsh’s confirmation.
Cuts to overseas aid will worsen shocks to global economy, David Miliband says
Cuts to overseas aid by countries including the US and the UK risk stoking global economic instability amid the humanitarian crisis resulting from the Iran war, David Miliband has said.The former British foreign secretary and head of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said the US “abandoning” of its aid programme under Donald Trump would worsen shocks to the global economy that would impact poor and wealthy countries alike.Miliband also said he regretted that Keir Starmer’s government was slashing the UK’s aid budget, because supporting the world’s poorest was morally the right thing to do and a “good investment for Britain”.“An untended humanitarian crisis is an incubator of political instability. We are in a more connected world than ever before,” said the former Labour minister
Rachel Reeves warns other budgets may be cut to lift defence spending
Rachel Reeves has warned “difficult choices” are required to increase defence spending and other budgets may have to be cut, including welfare.Under pressure for a faster rise in the military budget amid the Iran conflict and Russia’s war in Ukraine, the chancellor said she was “working through a range of options” but preferred not to increase taxes or add to government borrowing.She said: “My two budgets have both increased taxes substantially. I would prefer not to have to do that again. And on borrowing, well look, we’ve seen through this conflict [in Iran] the cost of government borrowing increase
Badenoch calls Farage an ‘opportunist’ after he urges Scottish nationalists to back Reform
Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative party, has accused Nigel Farage of being an opportunist who does not believe in unionism after he urged Scottish nationalists to back Reform.Farage said earlier this week he believed “genuine nationalists” would not support the Scottish National party’s bid to rejoin the EU, and urged them to vote Reform in the Holyrood election on 7 May.He also told the Scotsman that while he believed in the UK, it was “probably quite reasonable” to hold a second independence referendum in the future, “if this issue came back”.Badenoch, speaking to reporters in Edinburgh on Thursday, said only her party was truly centre-right and unionist. “Nigel Farage doesn’t really believe in anything except Nigel Farage
No 10 claims Starmer did not know Mandelson failed security vetting until this week – as it happened
Downing Street has just issued a statement saying Starmer did not know that Mandelson had failed the vetting process until earlier this week. A No 10 spokesperson said:double quotation markThe security vetting process for Peter Mandelson was sponsored by the FCDO. The decision to grant Developed Vetting to Peter Mandelson against the recommendation of UK Security Vetting was taken by officials in the FCDO.Neither the prime minister, nor any government minister, was aware that Peter Mandelson was granted Developed Vetting against the advice of UK Security Vetting until earlier this week.Once the prime minister was informed he immediately instructed officials to establish the facts about why the Developed Vetting was granted, in order to enact plans to update the House of Commons
Orbán’s defeat threatens to halt Hungarian support of populist right
The last 16 years of Viktor Orbán’s rule have been kind to a number of British political figures – from the Tory peer David Frost to Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin and James Orr.All benefited from largesse extended by the self-styled “illiberal democracy” established by the Hungarian leader’s ruling Fidesz party, which took a particular liking for those on the harder right of British conservatism.But while Budapest channelled millions each year to thinktanks and individuals associated with the populist right, the overwhelming defeat of Orbán this week now threatens to bring that support across Europe to a shuddering halt.Change looms elsewhere, too, including for Hungary’s ambassador Ferenc Kumin, who has long been close to Orbán, and for media operations set up by his supporters, such as Remix News. It pumps out English-language coverage skewed towards amplifying hard-right, anti-immigration narratives of life in Britain
Five key questions: who overruled decision to deny Mandelson security clearance?
The revelation that Peter Mandelson failed his security vetting clearance, only for the decision to be overruled by the Foreign Office so he could take up his post as ambassador to the US, raises a number of questions.According to multiple sources, Mandelson was initially denied clearance in late January 2025 after a developed vetting process, a type of highly confidential background check carried out by UK Security Vetting (UKSV), a division of the Cabinet Office.By that stage he had already been announced as Keir Starmer’s pick for ambassador in Washington. Within two days, the Foreign Office had overruled the UKSV decision, granting him clearance despite the recommendation from security officials. It is not known who made the decision to overrule security officials, or why
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