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White House Talking to Candidates to Replace Cain, Moore for Fed

The White House is interviewing potential candidates who will be Donald Trump’s picks for the Federal Reserve Board.

White House Talking to Candidates to Replace Cain, Moore for Fed
A runner passes the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve building in Washington, D.C., U.S. (Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- The White House is interviewing candidates to potentially replace Herman Cain and Stephen Moore as Donald Trump’s picks for the Federal Reserve Board, the president’s top economic adviser said.

White House Talking to Candidates to Replace Cain, Moore for Fed

Cain, the former pizza company executive who ran for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, must decide for himself whether to withdraw from consideration for a Fed job, Larry Kudlow said Tuesday at the White House.

“At the end of the day, it will probably be up to Herman Cain if he wants to stay in that process or not,” Kudlow told reporters. “As far as we are concerned he is still in the process and it is proceeding.”

Asked whether the White House is interviewing anyone to potentially replace Cain and Moore, Kudlow said, “We are talking to a number of candidates. We always do.” Politico earlier reported that other candidates were being interviewed.

Cain said in a video posted on Facebook earlier this month that he faced a “cumbersome” vetting process for the Fed seat, suggesting he may be considering withdrawing. His campaign for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination ended in 2011 after he was accused of sexual harassment when he led the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s and of infidelity.

White House Talking to Candidates to Replace Cain, Moore for Fed

Republican senators have signaled there isn’t enough support to confirm Cain for the job. Trump has privately said he knows Cain would have trouble getting confirmed but wants to wait for the FBI to finish its background check before he makes his decision on whether to formally nominate him, people familiar with the matter have said.

Asked last week whether Cain’s nomination was “safe,” Trump told reporters: “Herman will make that determination.”

Moore, a senior fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation and long-time Trump supporter, has faced scrutiny over a dispute with the IRS, which claimed he owes more than $75,000 in taxes and other penalties related to deductions he claimed for child-support payments to his ex-wife.

“Stephen Moore is in the process we support him,” Kudlow said. “We support Herman Cain. We will just let things play out in the vetting.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Shannon Pettypiece in Washington at spettypiece@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Joshua Gallu, Justin Blum

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