Elizabeth Warren goes scorched earth on Trump's 'sock puppet' Fed chair nominee in hearing

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) tore into President Donald Trump's nominee for Federal Reserve chairman Kevin Warsh during a confirmation hearing at the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday.

The ranking member criticized Trump, calling out his attacks on the independence of the Federal Reserve and its officials. Warren argued that the economy has suffered under the president's leadership and that this was his last chance to try and take control as the midterms approach this fall.

"The president has repeatedly and illegally attempted to take over the Fed," Warren said. "His bogus attacks on Governor Lisa Cook and Chair [Jerome] Powell were designed to threaten all the members of the Fed to do Trump's bidding and open more spots for Trump flunkies. Why try to end the independence of the Fed? Because Trump's economic failures are causing him political problems, and he wants the Fed to use monetary policies to artificially juice the economy in the short term. And this is his last chance to do that before the November elections."

Warren described her concerns over approving Warsh's nomination, including his role during the financial crisis.

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"But as soon as Donald Trump became president a second time, Warsh reversed himself once more and began shouting from the rooftops about how the Fed should cut interest rates," Warren said.

"Evidently, he learned his lesson this time around. He sucked up to Donald Trump to snag his dream job. Mr. Chairman, last week, every single Democratic member of this committee asked that you postpone this hearing and instead conduct oversight on the president's role in directing bogus criminal probes into Chair Powell and Governor Cook," she added. "The Senate should not be aiding and abetting Donald Trump's illegal takeover of the Fed by installing his chosen sock puppet as chair. It's an invitation for corruption and for economic catastrophe. We have the power to stop it, and we should be using that power."