White House sends mixed signals on Moore's appointment to Fed

Trump broke the precedent in recent months with his public opposition to the Fed's interest rate hike, which he said would slow down the economy rather than keep it steady. In recent months, the Fed has halted plans for further increases in light of signs of an impending US slowdown and growing uncertainty abroad, particularly in China.

Trump announced at the end of March that he was considering appointing the long-time conservative economic commentator, who was campaigning advisor 2016, but the White House still checks the election before an official candidacy is forwarded to the Senate .

Her columns, written in the early 2000s, included arguments in favor of prohibiting women from officiating, advertising or selling beer during men's basketball games. Moore told CNN in an email last week: "It was a travesty, I have a sense of humor."

Kudlow has repeatedly defended Moore, saying last Wednesday that the latter still had Trump's support for a seat on the Fed's seven-member board of directors, which sets the interest rate policy .

Moore did not respond to CNN's comment request on Monday.

But he repeatedly claimed that the media was trying to "shoot a Kavanaugh against me," referring to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose confirmation hearing last year had been marked by allegations of sexual assault in adolescence.

"I do not want to be a handicap," said Moore during the interview. "Why should we risk a Senate seat for a board member of the Federal Reserve, you know? I mean it makes no sense.

This is not the first time that a Fed candidate is arousing the fury of his comments on women.

In 2013, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers withdrew his name from the Fed's presidency after the outcry sparked by statements he had made at a conference suggesting that men outperform women in math and science for biological reasons.

Summers was proposed by President Barack Obama to replace Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, but the job was eventually handed over to Janet Yellen.

Moore's current nomination has also sparked strong criticism of his lack of traditional references and close ties to the president, including Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, who serves on the Senate Banking Committee.

"There are very few cases where candidates are so obviously political and obviously unqualified," said Alan Blinder, professor of economics at Princeton University and vice president of the Fed under the presidency. Bill Clinton.

In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan appointed Manley Johnson, a senior treasury official, and Wayne Angell, a Kansas banker backed by Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, on the board of directors. 39, administration of the Fed to oppose President Paul Volcker, appointed by President Jimmy Carter. who was trying to control inflation.

Volcker threatened to resign after the duo escaped from the vote on the director's interest rate, but he finally succeeded.

But former Fed officials say Moore's choice, and previously Cain's, is a clear departure from political partisanship.

"Every vote would be," What does the White House think about this? "This is not what is supposed to be," said Cornelius Hurley, director of the Center for Finance, Law and Policy of Boston University and former head of the Fed. "That's not why the Fed is here, the Fed has to depoliticize as much as possible."

Ironically, some former officials have said that overt political pressure can sometimes turn against the Fed, which seeks to assert its independence – an essential part of its role in reassuring markets and investors of future stability.

"President's pressure will prompt the Fed not to do what the President will want for the simple reason that they do not want people in the market to think that the Fed will collapse," said William Dudley , former president of the Federal Federal of New York. Reserve and Principal Investigator at Princeton University. "I do not think it will work if the president pushes the Fed in a different direction."