Trump Asks GOP Senators: Should Taylor or Powell Be Fed Chief?

President Donald Trump on Tuesday asked Republican senators for a show-of-hands poll on two candidates he is considering to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Sen. Tim Scott (R., S.C.) said the president, who was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday at a Senate GOP caucus lunch, asked the group which candidate they preferred to lead the Fed -- current Fed governor Jerome Powell or Stanford University economics professor John Taylor.

"I think Taylor won, but he did not announce a winner," Mr. Scott said.

The president also mentioned current Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen, but didn't include her in the informal poll.

"I couldn't tell which way he was going," Sen. John Kennedy (R., La.) said.

Mr. Scott, who sits on the Senate Banking Committee, said "at this point" he supports Mr. Taylor to lead the central bank over Mr. Powell, though he said former Fed governor Kevin Warsh "shouldn't be discounted either."

Mr. Trump has interviewed Messrs. Taylor, Powell and Warsh and Ms. Yellen for the job. His top economic adviser, Gary Cohn, is also a candidate.

One person familiar with Mr. Trump's search said he has narrowed the candidates to two front-runners: Messrs. Taylor and Powell. This person cautioned, though, that Mr. Trump still could reach deeper into the list of five finalists and tap someone else.

Natalie Andrews contributed to this article.

Write to Kate Davidson at kate.davidson@wsj.com and Peter Nicholas at peter.nicholas@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 24, 2017 16:36 ET (20:36 GMT)