Guggenheim’s Scott Minerd says there ‘have been discussions’ about him joining the Fed

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The chief investment officer of Guggenheim said on CNBC on Monday that he had been approached by the White House about possibly joining the Federal Reserve.

Guggenheim’s Scott Minerd said that discussions took place over the past couple of months before President Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate former advisor Judy Shelton and St. Louis Fed official Christopher Waller to fill vacant seats on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

Minerd said on “Halftime Report ” that he had not been officially asked to join the Fed, but “there have been discussions.”

The White House was not immediately available to respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Meanwhile, Minerd said he would not necessarily accept the job if it were offered. “It would be a great opportunity to serve the Federal Reserve,” he explained. “Obviously, if that were ever to be presented to me I’ve got other things to weigh.”

“I am one of the largest shareholders of Guggenheim Partners,” he continued. “The importance of our continued growth is going to weigh in that decision.” Guggenheim has $265 billion worth of assets under management.

The president said earlier this month that he would nominate Waller and Shelton, who was an economic advisor to Trump’s 2016 campaign, to take the Fed open seats. Economics writer Stephen Moore and businessman Herman Cain were floated as potential nominees earlier this year, but they were met with widespread criticism and bowed out of consideration.

Minerd said the Fed has “kind of hit the panic button” and cautioned against aggressively cutting rates. “I would be very slow to embrace the sort of whole-hearted jump to sort of locking us in to a rate cut path. Perhaps one rate reduction would be appropriate as an insurance policy to make sure we keep the expansion going, but I think the rhetoric is stronger than that.”

— CNBC’s Tom Franck and Fred Imbert contributed to this report.

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