President-elect Trump is continuing to announce new appointments to his Cabinet and other executive branch positions following his electoral victory nearly two weeks ago, though the Treasury secretary position remains unfilled.
FOX Business Network senior correspondent Charles Gasparino reported Monday, citing two sources with direct knowledge of the matter, that Trump’s transition team has “greatly expanded” its search for the Treasury secretary nominee. Gasparino said that one source told him that the transition team is “calling everybody” and that while a dark horse could emerge, former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh appears to be the current leader.
Last week, Key Square Group founder and CEO Scott Bessent was viewed as the frontrunner for the role and had a sizable lead over other contenders in betting markets. However, Elon Musk’s subsequent endorsement of Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick over the weekend and criticism of Bessent as a “business-as-usual choice” contributed to shaking up the race.
The race is continuing to evolve on Monday, as Gasparino reported that Trump’s team has reached out to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink along with an unnamed senior BlackRock executive to get insights on their search for the Treasury secretary, though he noted that Fink won’t be a candidate for the nomination.
As of Monday afternoon, Kalshi’s prediction market for the Treasury secretary nomination has Warsh as the frontrunner with a 44% chance of securing confirmation in the role, ahead of Bessent’s 23% and Lutnick’s 21%. Billionaire Marc Rowan’s chances have declined from 15% to 2%, while Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., has a 4% chance.
Polymarket’s odds have Warsh with a 40% probability, with Lutnick near 26%, Bessent at 19% and Rowan at 10%.
Here’s a look at some of the leading contenders still in the hunt for the Treasury secretary role:
Warsh, 54, served as a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors from 2006 to 2011 after he was initially appointed by President George W. Bush and renominated by President Obama.
At the time he joined the central bank, Warsh was the youngest-ever Federal Reserve governor. During the financial crisis of 2007-2008, he was one of the Fed’s main emissaries to Wall Street as well as foreign governments and political leaders.
Warsh is currently a distinguished visiting fellow at Stanford University’ Hoover Institution and lectures at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and he is also a member of the panel of economic advisers that aids the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
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Rowan, 62, is the billionaire co-founder and CEO of asset management firm Apollo Global Management. He said at a recent investment conference that Elon Musk’s role leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) represents a much-needed “wholesale change” to the way the government operates, which he views as necessary to stabilizing the federal government’s finances.
“Our financial situation is fixable. It is fixable in a way that is positive for the base that the president-elect has said that he wants to help. But it is not fixable by small amounts of tinkering. It is about wholesale change,” Rowan explained.
Rowan was an outspoken critic of the anti-Israel protest movement that emerged following Hamas’ terror attack on Israel in 2023. An alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania, he called for donors to “close their checkbooks” to the school and urged the resignation of UPenn leaders over what he viewed as their failure to sufficiently condemn antisemitic events on campus.
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Lutnick, 63, is a billionaire who works as the chairman and CEO of investment banking firm Cantor Fitzgerald, is the co-chair of Trump’s transition team and is also seeking the Treasury secretary nomination. He was a key fundraiser for Trump’s 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns and was also given a speaking slot at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally in New York City last month.
Musk expressed his support for Lutnick in the role over Bessent in a post on X, formerly Twitter, over the weekend.
“Would be interesting to hear more people weigh in on this for @realDonaldTrump to consider feedback. My view [for what it’s worth] is that Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change,” Musk posted. “Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt, so we need change one way or another.”
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Bessent, the founder of investment firm Key Square Group who previously taught at Yale University, has been a key adviser to Trump’s campaign. He has long supported the economic policies that comprised the Republican Party’s platform prior to Trump’s rise, but has also been supportive of Trump’s use of tariffs in trade negotiations.
At an event hosted by the Manhattan Institute earlier this year, he suggested that Trump should pursue a three-point plan of targeting 3% economic growth, reducing the deficit to 3% of U.S. gross domestic product, and to boost domestic energy production by 3 million barrels of oil a day.
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Bessent was the betting markets’ favorite for the Treasury secretary role prior to Lutnick’s push last week and could ultimately be the nominee for the role, or he could land in a different economic position in the incoming Trump administration.
