Miran currently serves as the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors in the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump has announced the appointment of Stephen Miran, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, to fill the recently vacated seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
The appointment, announced in an Aug. 7 post on Truth Social, comes after Fed Governor Adriana Kugler submitted her resignation earlier this month.
Miran will serve in a temporary capacity until Jan. 31, 2026, as the administration searches for a permanent nominee.
“Stephen has a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University, and served with distinction in my First Administration,” Trump said in the announcement. “He has been with me from the beginning of my Second Term, and his expertise in the World of Economics is unparalleled—He will do an outstanding job. Congratulations Stephen!”
Miran, who served as a senior adviser at the Treasury Department during Trump’s first term, has emerged as a vocal critic of the Fed’s current leadership. Like Trump, he has said that the central bank has kept interest rates too high despite inflation falling near the Fed’s 2 percent target. In particular, he has questioned the timing and motives behind a major rate cut in September 2024, just weeks before the presidential election.
“After taking a couple of days to think about the FOMC meeting I can say I think this was 1) the worst communicated policy decision of my lifetime and 2) the biggest policy mistake since 2021,” Miran wrote at the time. “And I think political motivations have a lot to do with it.” He and others suggested the move may have been designed to benefit then-Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.
Trump has long accused Fed Chair Jerome Powell of “playing politics” and has repeatedly pushed for rate cuts to spur economic growth and reduce the government’s interest expenses. Powell, however, has insisted that the Fed must first assess the inflationary impact of Trump’s second-term tariffs before adjusting policy.
In an Aug. 7 interview with Bloomberg, Miran was asked for his thoughts on the administration’s search for a replacement for Powell, whose term ends in May 2026. Fed Governor Christopher Waller—one of two dissenters at the Fed’s most recent policy meeting, alongside Michelle Bowman—has emerged as a top contender for the role.
By Tom Ozimek
