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WASHINGTON − President Donald Trump said he will announce next week his nominee for Federal Reserve chair to replace Jerome Powell, who the president has battled over fiscal year for the past year.

Trump revealed the timeframe during a Jan. 29 Cabinet meeting after openly discussing his search for Powell's replacement for months.

"It'll be a person that will, I think, do a good job," Trump said. "We're paying far too much interest in the Fed. The Fed rate's too high, unacceptably high."

Trump has said he has a group of four finalists for the position: Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council; Fed Governor Christopher Waller; former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh; and Rick Rieder, senior managing director at the investment firm BlackRock.

Trump has talked highly of Hassett but said he would hate to lose Hassett's regular presence on television as a top economic adviser in the White House. “It’s a serious concern for me,” Trump said at a White House event on Jan. 16. “We don’t want to lose him, Susie," he added, referring to his chief of staff, Susie Wiles.

Powell's term as chairman ends in May, but his term as a member of the Fed's board goes through 2028. Trump first appointed Powell as chairman of the seven-member Fed board in 2017. President Joe Biden nominated him to a second four-year term in 2021. Congress confirmed his reappointment in 2022.

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Trump has criticized Powell repeatedly during his first year back in the White House ‒ threatening to try to fire him from the board of the independent agency ‒ for refusing to lower interest rates. Trump has signaled he wants a Fed chairman who agrees with him on rates, raising questions about the executive branch interfering with the agency's autonomy.

"He doesn't want to do it because I think he's politically biased," Trump said of Powell at the Cabinet meeting, even though Powell is a Republican and Trump originally appointed him. "I really do. I believe he's politically biased."

The Justice Department this month opened an investigation into Powell's testimony before Congress regarding ongoing renovations at the Fed's headquarters.

Powell has not been swayed by the president's pressure, however. The Fed held its key interest rate steady at a range of 3.5% to 3.75% at its Jan. 28 meeting, ending a streak of three straight months of 0.25% rate decreases.