Fed Board Votes Unanimously to Reappoint Reserve Bank Presidents
The administrative move had drawn unusual attention amid President Trump’s pressure campaign on the central bank
By Nick Timiraos, The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 11, 2025
The Federal Reserve’s board of governors voted unanimously to reappoint 11 reserve bank presidents to new five-year terms beginning March 1, 2026, the central bank said on Thursday.
The presidents of the Fed’s 12 quasi-private reserve banks are chosen by the individual banks’ boards of directors, whose members are typically business or nonprofit executives, but those selections must be approved by the Washington-based governors. All 12 presidents are up for reappointment at the same time every five years.
The reappointment process had always been an under-the-radar administrative process that didn’t attract attention until this year because President Trump has escalated a pressure campaign on the central bank to cut interest rates. … [end quote]
Given President Trump’s hardball tactics to control the Federal Reserve, including vicious personal insults toward Fed Chair Jerome Powell and Trump’s attempt to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook, there was a fear that Trump might seek to block the reappointment of Fed presidents and appoint his own flunkies in their place next year when all their terms end at the same time. That would be on top of Trump appointing the next Fed Chair since Powell’s term as Fed chair ends next May.
Today’s unanimous vote is a vote for stability. That’s a relief.
Wendy