Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and ranking member of Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, presses Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on affordability during a hearing in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (Kent Nishimura / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Bessent: The president also made a joke about you — one I won’t repeat.
Warren: That was supposed to be a softball. That was the easy one. If this was a joke, why not just say so?
Bessent: It was a joke, and he made a joke about you, too, Senator Warren. It got a lot of laughs, it got a lot of laughs. I don't know if you want to respond to that.
Warren: I do want to respond, I think the American people are laughing, they are the ones that are struggling.
Bessent: What I can tell you is that Mr. Warsh is highly qualified. And why don't you tell the nation what you told me — that you held up Chair Powell’s nomination.
TRUMP’S ECONOMIC WINS ARE REAL — NOW HE NEEDS TO CONVINCE THE COUNTRY
Kevin Warsh, former governor of the U.S. Federal Reserve, was nominated by Trump to helm the world's most powerful central bank. ( Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Warsh’s potential ascension to the top spot at the Fed comes as Trump has often made current Fed chair Jerome Powell a lightning rod for economic criticism, with tensions between the two deteriorating over interest rate decisions and broader monetary policy.
Powell is currently under criminal investigation over the accuracy of his congressional testimony regarding the Federal Reserve’s ongoing renovation.
Amanda covers the intersection of business and politics for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/warren-bessent-erupt-shouting-match-over-trumps-warsh-joke