Treasury’s Scott Bessent Shocks Wall Street by Enlisting Trump’s Fed Maverick Judy Shelton—What’s Next?

Judy Shelton Appointed Counselor to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

Judy Shelton, whose controversial economic ideas resulted in the Senate blocking her nomination to the Federal Reserve, has been appointed as a counselor to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The Treasury announced that Shelton will advise Bessent on currency policy, specifically focusing on assessing financial conditions in China.

Shelton is not recognized as a China expert. Her earlier works include “Money Meltdown,” published in 1988, which discussed the need for a unified international monetary regime, and “The Coming Soviet Crash,” released the following year. Before her appointment at the Treasury, she was a senior fellow at the Independent Institute, a free-market think tank, and previously worked at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. She holds a Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Utah.

The Treasury stated in its announcement that “Throughout her career, she has specialized in analyzing the internal monetary and financial conditions of nations and their impact on exchange rates.” A bipartisan coalition of Senators, comprising all Democrats and a few Republicans, rejected President Donald Trump‘s 2019 nomination of Shelton for a governorship at the Fed due to her views on Fed independence, support for the gold standard, and her questioning of whether the U.S. needed a central bank.

Shelton’s appointment occurs amidst significant turnover at the Treasury, with a recent Wall Street Journal report noting that seven Senate-confirmed officials had left the department as of the end of August, with only one position filled. Recently, Bessent also named David Zervos, former chief market strategist at Jeffries, as a counselor—similar to Shelton’s role. Neither Shelton nor Zervos requires Senate confirmation for their appointments.

News Courtesy of CNBC