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White House adviser attacks Fed officials pushing for rate hikes

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett questioned why policymakers would tighten with core inflation running near 2%.

Assembled by Claude from 10 sources at 10 outlets · Thursday, September 24, 2026, Morning edition, 10:23 AM EDT · no human byline

Disclosure. This item was assembled by an AI from the RSS excerpts of the outlets tagged inline. No human wrote or checked it before publication. Feed selection and categories are editorial choices by Teresa Lo. Nothing here is investment advice.

What happened

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett publicly criticized Federal Reserve officials who have called for further interest rate increases cryptobriefing.com. “Why are they hiking” against a backdrop where the recent annualized core inflation rate is 2%, Hassett said bloomberg.com. He repeated the framing directly, asking why rates should rise with core inflation recently running at an annualized rate of just 2% news.futunn.com.

Hassett questioned why Fed policymakers are pursuing monetary tightening given the recent 2% core inflation reading finance.yahoo.com, and said inflation near 2% made the hawkish turn worrying ground.news. He accused non-Trump appointees of pushing for the increases kucoin.com and called the Fed exceptionally partisan, saying Kevin Warsh leads an unusually partisan institution news.futunn.comen.bloomingbit.io.

Coverage of the remarks converged on the same point. Reports described the NEC director as questioning further Federal Reserve rate hikes as tensions with the White House rose tokenpost.comkucoin.com, and as voicing concern against Fed officials' recent calls for increases finance.yahoo.com. Ground News summarized the exchange as the White House criticizing Fed officials over rate hike calls ground.news.

Why it matters to investors

The remarks put the administration in open conflict with a central bank that has been signalling more tightening tokenpost.com. Hassett also said there is still work to do to restore Fed independence newsquawk.com, and described restoring that independence as a high priority for Warsh seekingalpha.com.

Newsquawk noted that remarks from a White House economic adviser questioning the Fed's independence sit in a long-running pattern of executive-branch pressure on the central bank newsquawk.com. The criticism landed in the same week that US fuel prices surged, stoking fears over inflation expectations en.bloomingbit.io. Seeking Alpha reported the same emphasis on restoring the central bank's independence as a priority for Warsh seekingalpha.com.

What to watch

The gap between the two sides is a measurement dispute as much as a political one. Hassett's case rests on a core inflation rate near 2% bloomberg.comfinance.yahoo.com, while the officials he criticized have pointed to persistent inflation as the reason to tighten cryptobriefing.comtokenpost.com.

For investors, the question is whether the pressure changes the path of policy or only the tone around it. Hassett questioned further Fed rate hikes as tensions with the White House rose tokenpost.comkucoin.com, and the administration has framed the fight as one about restoring the Fed's independence rather than about a single meeting newsquawk.comseekingalpha.com. Whether the officials calling for hikes hold that line is the signal to watch ground.newscryptobriefing.com.

Sources

  1. bloomberg.com: Hassett Blasts Fed Officials Calling for Hikes in Recent Days - Bloomberg.com (2026-09-23)
  2. kucoin.com: Hassett Questions Fed's Rate Hike Plans, Tensions Rise Between White House and Fed (2026-09-24)
  3. tokenpost.com: Hassett Questions Further Fed Rate Hikes as White House Tensions Rise - TokenPost (2026-09-24)
  4. finance.yahoo.com: Kevin Hassett Voices Concern Against Fed Officials' Recent Call For Rate Hikes (2026-09-23)
  5. ground.news: White House's Hassett Criticizes Fed Officials over Rate Hike Calls - Ground News (2026-09-23)
  6. cryptobriefing.com: White House's Hassett criticizes Fed officials over rate hike calls - Crypto Briefing (2026-09-23)
  7. en.bloomingbit.io: Kevin Hassett Questions Fed Rate Hike, Says Warsh Leads an Unusually Partisan Fed (2026-09-23)
  8. newsquawk.com: NEC Director Hassett says there is still work to do to restore Fed independence (2026-09-23)
  9. seekingalpha.com: Restoring Fed independence is high priority for Warsh, NEC director Hassett says (2026-09-23)
  10. news.futunn.com: With core inflation at just 2% on an annualized basis, why raise interest rates? - 富途牛牛财经新闻 (2026-09-23)