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You are here: Home / Financial Markets / Powell Probe Upends Final Stretch of Fed Chair Contest

Powell Probe Upends Final Stretch of Fed Chair Contest

January 16, 2026 at 5:52 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell threatens to upend the contest over whom President Trump will choose to succeed him as it enters its final stretch,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The episode is creating new obstacles on Capitol Hill and raising hard questions about whether any nominee can be seen as independent—tension that was always present but is now much harder to ignore. Trump has made clear he prizes loyalty in his pick, but the Justice Department probe—which Powell said was part of a pressure campaign to get the Fed to lower interest rates—threatens to make that quality a liability.”

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Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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