Senate Banking Committee will vote next Wednesday to advance Kevin Warsh for Fed chair after Sen. Thom Tillis lifted his hold following the Justice Department’s closure of a criminal probe involving Jerome Powell, clearing a path for the nomination to reach the full Senate ahead of Powell’s May 15 chairmanship deadline.

The committee vote arrives after a months-long impasse created when Sen. Thom Tillis refused to allow any Fed nominee to proceed until a criminal investigation touching Chair Jerome Powell was resolved. Tillis made his turnaround public on X and explained that DOJ assurances addressed the leverage he feared prosecutors could wield over the Fed.

The investigation itself was closed by Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., and the Justice Department confirmed the matter is finished. That closure was the key condition Tillis set before he would release his hold and let the committee move forward with Kevin Warsh’s nomination.

“I have been clear from the start: the U.S. Attorney’s Office criminal investigation into Chair Powell was a serious threat to the Fed’s independence, and it needed to end before I could support Kevin Warsh’s confirmation. I welcome the Inspector General’s investigation. This is a necessary and appropriate measure, and I have confidence it will be conducted thoroughly and professionally.”

Tillis also secured specific legal assurances: any appeal of Judge Boasberg’s ruling would be limited to legal principles and would not be used as a pretext to reissue subpoenas, and only a criminal referral from the Inspector General could reopen the investigation. Those boundaries were meant to prevent prosecutors from using a criminal probe as leverage against the Fed’s leadership.

On Meet the Press Tillis said he had “worked a lot over the weekend” to win the DOJ guarantees “that I needed to feel like they were not using the DOJ as a weapon to threaten the independence of the Fed.” His insistence was pitched as a guardrail for institutional integrity, not as routine politics.

The timing of the vote matters because Jerome Powell’s term as Fed chair expires on May 15, though his seat as a governor runs through 2028. Powell had signaled he would not step down while the probe lingered, which turned a procedural nomination fight into a high-stakes standoff among the White House, the Justice Department, and the Senate.

With Tillis satisfied, the Banking Committee now has the votes to advance Warsh, and the nomination can go to the full Senate floor. Tillis was blunt: “I am prepared to move on with the confirmation of Mr. Kevin Warsh. I think he will be a great Fed chair.” He even added the candid aside, “I wouldn’t be surprised if the president doesn’t get annoyed with him once or twice.”

That comment matters because one persistent charge from critics was that a Trump appointee would be a rubber stamp for lower rates. Tillis’s months-long hold, taken on principle, and his subsequent confidence in Warsh suggest Republicans expect a chair who will respect the Fed’s job, not take orders from the White House.

Warsh told senators he would be independent from White House pressure, and economists who looked at his testimony described his stance as “much more consistent with an extended hold than additional cuts,” in the words of Aditya Bhave of BofA Securities. Those assessments imply that Warsh’s approach will be data-driven rather than politically dictated.

President Trump has been explicit about his preference for lower rates, saying on Fox Business, “When Kevin gets in, I do… interest rates should be much lower.” But a president does not control the Federal Open Market Committee by fiat; the chair is one of twelve voters and must convince colleagues that cuts fit the data and the mandate.

Most Fed officials have signaled caution while inflation remains above target, and a tighter labor picture complicates any quick pivot to easier policy. That institutional reality is the reason Tillis pushed for firm guarantees before allowing a confirmation to proceed — the Fed’s independence matters when interest rates shape every paycheck and mortgage.

The criminal probe at the center of this dispute involved alleged cost overruns tied to renovation work at the Eccles Building, the Fed’s headquarters. Pirro’s office opened the inquiry and later closed it, and Tillis framed the Inspector General’s follow-up as the appropriate oversight mechanism rather than continued prosecutorial pressure.

“With these assurances, I look forward to supporting Kevin Warsh’s confirmation. He is an outstanding nominee, and it is time for the Federal Reserve to move beyond this distraction and return its full attention to its mission.”

The Banking Committee’s vote is scheduled for next Wednesday, and if Warsh advances, the full Senate will take up the nomination before the May 15 chairmanship deadline. The episode underscores a simple point: safeguarding the Fed’s independence sometimes requires a member of the president’s party to hold firm, demand clarity, and then let the confirmation process run its course.