Did President Donald Trump say "I made a mistake" about nominating Kevin Warsh as Federal Reserve chair? No, that's not true: Trump was referring to Jerome Powell, whom he previously nominated as chair and has sought to remove. His reference to the mistake came as he was describing the process by which he had been persuaded to select Powell over Warsh.
The claim appeared in a February 9, 2026, post on X account @operationdanish (archived here). It opened:
Unbelievable 🤯
Trump: "i made a mistake" on kevin warsh.
How long before he pulls the nomination?!
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at x.com/operationdanish.)
In an interview with Fox Business host Larry Kudlow (archived here) Trump was asked when he decided to nominate Kevin Warsh to replace Jerome Powell. The video was posted on the Fox Business website on February 9, 2026, with the headline explaining that Trump is talking about regretting the Powell choice over Warsh. "Trump admits initial mistake in first term in Federal Reserve chairman decision making," is followed by the subheading, "President Donald Trump discusses his decision-making process in selecting Kevin Warsh as his nominee for Federal Reserve chairman on 'Kudlow.'"
In the interview Trump said he made a mistake by nominating Powell as Federal Reserve chair in 2017. The "I made a mistake" remark is a preface to Trump's remarks about Warsh.
Here is the exchange between Kudlow and Trump:
Kudlow: When did you know you wanted Kevin Warsh? Officially it was two Fridays ago?
Trump: Well, I made a mistake. He was runner up if you want to say that.
Kudlow: He was a finalist.
Trump: He was and I made a mistake because I had somebody that was my Secretary of the Treasury wanted him so badly, so badly and you know, I didn't feel good about him but sometimes you listen to people and it was a mistake. It was really a big mistake. But, I think we're gonna do something that's really spectacular.
On January 30, 2026, Trump announced on Truth Social the nomination of Kevin Warsh to serve as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve (archived here) and later officially confirmed it during remarks in the Oval Office (archived here).
