All posts tagged: Kevin Hassett

Trump aide Hassett says AI firms can solve risks; Warner balks

Trump aide Hassett says AI firms can solve risks; Warner balks

Published by Sam Flores

The private sector is more than capable of addressing the risks posed by rapidly advancing artificial intelligence, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC on Tuesday. “I think these are completely solvable problems,” Hassett said on “Squawk Box.” Hassett’s remarks largely align with President Donald Trump, who went on a social media rampage Monday against AI industry leaders and others who have raised alarms about their own models. But the message contrasts with a growing number of influential voices, including the heads of several top AI companies, calling for strengthened protections — or even a slowdown in development — around the nascent technology. “The idea that we’re going to simply allow a kind of, ‘We’ll trust you to take care of this,’ would be shortsighted,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” later Tuesday morning. Warner, who spoke over the weekend with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI chief Sam Altman, said some AI companies’ experimentation on their products “has been sloppy to …

Kevin Hassett held up to million in Coinbase amid Trump crypto push

Kevin Hassett held up to $5 million in Coinbase amid Trump crypto push

Published by Sam Flores

White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett held between $1 million and $5 million worth of shares in crypto giant Coinbase at the end of 2025, as President Donald Trump’s administration rapidly rewrote federal cryptocurrency policy. Hassett’s previously unreported 2025 annual financial disclosure lists the investment as vested Coinbase shares. He formerly worked as an advisor to the company. The filing shows he had not fully divested from the company nearly 11 months into Trump’s second term. While the filing was recently released, it doesn’t indicate whether Hassett still holds the shares as it covers only 2025. Three days after taking office in 2025, Trump established the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets within the NEC. His executive order included Hassett’s White House position or a designee as a member and required the group’s final recommendations to reach Trump through Hassett’s office. The group, chaired by the then-White House crypto advisor David Sacks, went on to propose sweeping regulatory changes to digital-asset markets, banking, stablecoin and taxation. The administration has also reversed Biden-era …

No excuse to raise rates, Warsh will push Fed to right answer

No excuse to raise rates, Warsh will push Fed to right answer

Published by Sam Flores

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Wednesday he sees no argument for raising interest rates in light of the latest data on the U.S. economy, including an “amazing” inflation report. “There’s not really an excuse for raising rates right now,” Hassett said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” He said that he expects the Federal Reserve will “be thinking the other way,” meaning lowering interest rates, if the data trends continue. Hassett added that the White House is expecting Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s pick who started the job in late May, will “drive the committee to the right answer.” Hassett’s inclination toward lower rates matches Trump’s insistent demand that the U.S. central bank must quickly slash rates in order to boost the economy and make borrowing cheaper. The economist’s CNBC appearance came one day after the latest consumer price index reading, which measures the costs of a wide range of U.S. goods and services, came in much lower than expected. CPI fell a seasonally adjusted 0.4% during June, bringing the annual inflation rate …

Kevin Warsh Fed nomination hearing delayed

Kevin Warsh Fed nomination hearing delayed

Published by Sam Flores

Kevin Warsh, Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution and lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, speaks during the Sohn Investment Conference in New York City, U.S., May 8, 2017. Brendan McDermid | Reuters An expected nomination hearing for Federal Reserve chair candidate Kevin Warsh has been delayed, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC on Thursday evening. Warsh had been set to appear before the Senate Banking Committee on April 16. That won’t happen, but the hearing is still expected soon, the person said, requesting anonymity as the details have not been made public by the committee. The committee’s rules require that it give a week’s notice before the hearing is held, and the panel first needs to collect paperwork from the nominee, including financial disclosures. The Banking Committee has yet to receive Warsh’s paperwork, according to three people familiar with the Senate process. The committee has not formally noticed the hearing. The deadline for doing so was Thursday. Punchbowl earlier reported the delay to Warsh’s hearing. Warsh’s finances may be …

Hormuz Strait oil traffic down after ceasefire; Hassett credits one tanker

Hormuz Strait oil traffic down after ceasefire; Hassett credits one tanker

Published by Sam Flores

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett speaks to the press outside the West Wing of the White House on February 11, 2026 in Washington, DC. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the United States had added 130,000 jobs in January. Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images President Donald Trump’s top economic advisor Kevin Hassett said Thursday that getting even one oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz would provide a “huge chunk of what’s missing” amid a global supply crunch caused by the U.S.-Israel war in Iran. Hassett, director of White House’s National Economic Council, made the claim as traffic through the key shipping route remains tightly throttled, despite the U.S. and Iran reaching a fragile ceasefire that ostensibly involves reopening the strait. More than 100 commercial vessels, mostly oil tankers, were passing through the strait each day before the war started on Feb. 28, according to data from Kpler. Matt Smith, Kpler’s lead oil analyst said just two tankers — one of which was Iranian — and a handful of bulk carriers have transited …

0 bln Iran war spending request will ensure military funded

$200 bln Iran war spending request will ensure military funded

Published by Sam Flores

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that the Pentagon’s reported $200 billion budget request for Iran war funding “could move.” “It takes money to kill bad guys,” Hegseth said at a press briefing when asked to confirm the figure, which The Washington Post first reported Wednesday evening. “We’re going back to Congress and our folks there to ensure that we’re properly funded,” Hegseth said. The acknowledgment that a massive supplemental request is in the offing could signal that the U.S. — which has spent roughly $1 billion per day on the war so far, per some estimates — is preparing for a longer fight than the administration’s previously floated four-to-six-week timeline. Hegseth on Thursday declined to say when the U.S. expects to achieve its objectives in Iran. “It will be at the president’s choosing, ultimately, where we say, ‘Hey, we’ve achieved what we need to on behalf of the American people to ensure our security,’” he said. “So no time set on that, but we’re very much on track.” President Donald Trump, asked in the …