Warsh Confirmation Set to Advance as GOP Holdout Backs Vote (1)

Senator Thom Tillis said he’s dropping his blockade of Kevin Warsh’s nomination to head the Federal Reserve, saying the Justice Department’s decision to end a criminal probe targeting Fed Chair Jerome Powell removed a threat to the central bank’s independence.

The North Carolina Republican’s decision sets the stage for Warsh’s swift confirmation to succeed Powell, whose term ends on May 15.

Tillis said he received assurances from the Justice Department that the criminal case against Powell and the Fed was “completely and fully settled” while the Fed’s inspector general pursues a separate probe into cost overruns in the central ...