Elizabeth Warren Challenges CNBC Reporter Over False Fed Comparison to Trump: 'Is That Real?'

Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts responded with incredulous laughter Wednesday after CNBC host Sara Eisen suggested her outspoken views on Federal Reserve policy mirrored President Donald Trump’s attempts to influence the central bank.

Warren made the remarks during a Wednesday interview with Eisen, one day after she questioned Kevin Warsh—Trump’s nominee to replace Jerome Powell as Fed chair—at a Senate Banking Committee confirmation hearing on Tuesday. Powell’s term as chair ends in May, and Trump has repeatedly pressured him to lower interest rates.

“You yourself have been very outspoken on this show and otherwise on what the Fed should be doing. You also advocated for Lael Brainard and Janet Yellen, who you were aligned with on policy views,” Eisen said. “I mean, this isn’t that different, you know, with the president expressing what he wants in terms of policy and who he wants.”

“I’m sorry. Is that real?” Warren asked, laughing. “It is not different to just say, ‘Here’s my opinion and here’s how I read the numbers and here is who I think has a good track record?’ You think that’s the same as being the President of the United States and employing the Department of Justice to bring criminal charges against someone?”

Warren pushed back further, emphasizing the distinction between offering policy opinions and attempting to exert direct control over the Fed.

“Donald Trump is not expressing an opinion. Donald Trump is trying to control the Fed,” Warren said. “You know it and I know it, and what he’s also trying to do is to control the Fed by terrifying all of them.”

Eisen then asked why Warren did not press Warsh on these issues during Tuesday’s hearing or inquire about the ongoing criminal investigation into Powell. Warren responded that she had already raised those concerns in private meetings.

“We did! We did, and do you know what he said? I asked him in my office. He said, ‘I’m not gonna comment on that because it’s an ongoing investigation,’” Warren said. “Now, I could have spent 45 seconds having him say the same thing again [at the hearing], but he told every one of us the same thing.”

She went on to criticize Warsh’s evasiveness, calling him a “sock puppet” for his refusal to address tough questions.

“Uncomfortable questions, he just says, ‘I’m not going to answer them. I will not answer them, and I have nothing that I can disagree, not a single fact that I could disagree with Donald Trump on,’” Warren remarked. “I gotta tell you, if the sock fits, and it sure does, for him.”