Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina announced Sunday he will vote to confirm Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve chairman, ending months of resistance that had single-handedly stalled President Donald Trump's bid to replace Jerome Powell atop the nation's central bank.
Tillis made the announcement on NBC's "Meet the Press," telling host Kristen Welker that assurances from the Department of Justice about the status of its probe into Powell had satisfied his concerns. The Daily Caller reported that Tillis' reversal removes the most significant Republican obstacle standing between Warsh and a confirmation vote.
The move matters because Tillis sits on the Senate Banking Committee, the panel that must advance the nomination before the full Senate can act. His opposition alone was enough to deny Republicans the committee majority they needed to push Warsh forward over unified Democratic resistance. With Tillis now on board, the New York Post reported, committee Republicans have the votes to advance the nomination, and the full Senate is expected to follow.
Tillis had announced in January that he would oppose any of Trump's picks for the Federal Reserve as long as the Justice Department maintained an active criminal investigation connected to Powell. His concern, as he framed it, was about protecting the independence of the Fed, not about any objection to Warsh himself.
That distinction became clear in earlier remarks Tillis made to Fox News Digital, in which he praised the nominee directly. Fox News reported that Tillis said he had "very few questions" about Warsh and called himself "a real fan" of the nominee, but wanted the Powell investigation resolved first.
The DOJ investigation centered on the renovation of the Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington. Documents Trump presented during a July 24 tour of the building, accompanied by South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, supposedly showed the project's cost had ballooned to $3.1 billion, roughly a 25 percent overrun. Republican Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna referred Powell to the Justice Department in July, alleging he had lied to the Senate Banking Committee about the renovations during testimony in June 2025.
That referral and the subsequent DOJ probe became the tripwire for Tillis. He previously declared he would not vote to install a new Fed chair while the sitting one was under active criminal investigation, arguing the situation could compromise the central bank's credibility.
The logjam broke Friday. The Justice Department announced it was ending its probe into the cost overruns tied to the Fed headquarters renovation, the Washington Times reported. That closure gave Tillis the off-ramp he needed.
On "Meet the Press," Tillis laid out the specific assurances he said he received from the DOJ before dropping his hold. His statement was detailed and conditional, not a simple capitulation, but a senator checking boxes before stepping aside.
Tillis told Welker:
"I am prepared and, with the assurances from the Department of Justice that the case is completely and fully settled, that the appeal would only be used to potentially abrogate or change the ruling for administrative purposes, not as a basis for reopening the investigation, and that the only way an investigation would be open would be a criminal referral from one of the most respected inspector generals there."
He followed with a direct endorsement of the nominee: "I am prepared to move on with the confirmation of Mr. Warsh. I think he's going to be a great Fed chair."
The DOJ's decision to close the criminal probe and hand residual oversight to an inspector general appears to have threaded the needle, ending the active investigation while preserving a pathway for accountability if new evidence emerged through a criminal referral.
Tillis also signaled he believes Warsh will operate independently once confirmed. Newsmax reported that Tillis said he "wouldn't be surprised if the president doesn't get annoyed with him once or twice," arguing that Warsh would chart his own course at the Fed.
The Senate Banking Committee said it planned to vote Wednesday on Warsh's nomination, the Associated Press reported. With Tillis no longer blocking the process, Republicans hold the committee votes to advance Warsh to the full Senate floor.
The timeline is not without pressure. Powell's leadership term ends May 15, and Republicans want Warsh confirmed and seated before the chair is vacant. Trump himself expressed confidence. Asked whether Warsh now had a clear path, the president said, "I imagine it's smooth."
Democrats remain uniformly opposed. But in a Republican-controlled Senate, Warsh needs only a simple majority for confirmation, a threshold that now appears well within reach.
The broader context around Trump's long-running clash with Powell over interest rates and Fed management makes the transition all the more consequential. Trump has openly criticized Powell for failing to lower rates at the pace the president wanted, and the renovation cost overruns added a new dimension to that friction.
Tillis' months-long hold exposed an uncomfortable reality about the Senate's razor-thin margins. One senator, acting on a procedural concern rather than opposition to the nominee, was able to freeze a presidential appointment for months. The Banking Committee's narrow partisan split meant that a single Republican defection handed Democrats an effective veto, without casting a single vote.
That said, Tillis' stated reasoning was not frivolous. He argued that confirming a new Fed chair while the sitting one faced a DOJ criminal probe would send a troubling signal about political interference with the central bank. Reasonable people can debate whether that concern justified the delay. But Tillis never opposed Warsh on the merits, and he made that clear repeatedly.
The confirmation hearings themselves featured the expected partisan theater, with Democrats pressing Warsh on ethics and independence. None of it appears to have shaken Republican confidence in the nominee.
Reports also indicated that U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro closed the investigation, a detail Tillis was asked about during his "Meet the Press" appearance. The specifics of how the probe concluded, and whether the inspector general referral will produce any further action, remain open questions.
With the committee vote set for Wednesday and full Senate confirmation expected to follow, Warsh appears poised to take the reins at the Fed before Powell's term expires. The months of delay are over. The procedural hold is lifted. The DOJ probe that triggered it is closed.
What remains is the work itself, managing monetary policy at a moment when interest rates, inflation, and the credibility of the Fed are all live political issues. Tillis bet that Warsh will prove independent enough to handle it. Trump bet that Warsh will be a better steward than Powell.
The Senate will now decide whether to give him the chance. And for the first time in months, the answer looks like yes.
