Warren Requests Fed Records on Warsh Role in 2008 Financial Crisis and Wall Street Bailouts Ahead of Senate Hearing

Warren Requests Fed Records on Warsh Role in 2008 Financial Crisis and Wall Street Bailouts Ahead of Senate Hearing

"(Kevin Warsh's) tenure coincided with one of the worst financial crises our nation has ever experienced."

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Jerome Powell, Chair on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Fed), requesting copies of all records produced or received by Kevin Warsh during his tenure as a member of the Fed from 2006 to 2011, including those related to the Fed's 2008 bailouts during the financial crisis. The Senator also requested a copy of the ethics waiver Mr. Warsh was granted to deal with Morgan Stanley directly. The Senator's probe comes a week before the Fed Nominee confirmation hearing and Mr.Warsh's unwillingness to answer previous inquiries from the Ranking Member.

"Since 2008, it has been well documented that Mr. Warsh, in his role as Fed Governor, failed to take seriously the risks posed by the subprime mortgage market and played a central role in helping to arrange numerous multibillion-dollar, taxpayer-funded capital infusions to financial institutions involved in the crisis," wrote the Senator.

Warren noted the following failures by Warsh in the lead-up to and following the 2008 financial crisis:

• Mr. Warsh failed to meaningfully identify or address the risks associated with subprime mortgages and credit default swaps, despite significant warnings and mounting evidence.
• Mr. Warsh "helped arrange" JPMorgan's acquisition of investment bank Bear Stearns, in which the Fed provided a massive $28 billion bailout.
• Mr. Warsh facilitated the rapid conversion of Morgan Stanley, his former employer, and Goldman Sachs, to become bank holding companies, enabling these Wall Street firms to tap trillions of dollars in emergency loans and other bailout funds.
• Mr. Warsh played a central role in organizing the $85 billion Fed bailout of AIG.

The Senator concluded: "It is essential that the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs fully understand Mr. Warsh's failure to adequately oversee the financial institutions within the Fed's jurisdiction and his involvement in providing trillions of dollars in bailouts to financial institutions as it considers his nomination process to serve as the next Fed Chair."

The Senator requests responses no later than April 24, 2026.

Ranking Member Warren has already sought answers from Mr. Warsh on his record of prioritizing Wall Street over american families, his position on President Trump's weaponization of the Department of Justice to launch witch hunts against Fed Chair Powell and Governor Cook, to explain the extent of any interactions or relationship he had with Jeffrey Epstein, and whether President Trump demanded aloyalty pledge before nominating him to be Fed Chair.

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