FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s embattled nominee for the Federal Reserve board, Stephen Moore, defended himself Thursday [4-11-19] against accusations that he’s unqualified for the role and asserted that the central bank can be ‘divorced from politics’…Moore also said he would not be the first member of the board with close ties to a sitting president, referencing former Chairman Ben Bernanke, who served as chief economist to President George W. Bush…Trump’s choice of Moore, a distinguished visiting fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, has raised eyebrows given the commentator’s often colorful views of the Fed and his close relationship with the President, who has broken with precedent and directly criticized the Fed’s recent interest rate hikes. In December, Moore blasted Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and other members of the board for raising rates at the end of the year, saying they ‘should be thrown out for economic malpractice’ and going so far as to suggest that Powell — who was appointed by Trump — should resign. Moore later told Bloomberg that his comment was most likely made ‘in anger.’”
–Katie Bernard, “Moore defends qualifications for Fed, says bank ‘can be divorced from politics’,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, April 11, 2019 8:50 pm