Fox host pulls himself out of the running to be Treasury Secretary

Fox Business host Larry Kudlow pulled himself from consideration from a top economic job in the upcoming Trump administration just hours after it was reported he was being considered for a job.

Kudlow met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida this week and was being considered to lead the National Economic Council as well as the plum Treasury Department cabinet post, according to the Wall Street Journal.

But on Friday, he yanked his name from consideration.

‘Larry Kudlow recently signed a new deal to continue hosting his eponymous program on FOX Business and has no plans to leave his current role helming one of the highest rated shows on the network,’ a Fox News spokesperson said in a statement with DailyMail.com.

It comes after Trump tapped another Fox Newshost, Pete Hegseth, to lead the Defense Department earlier this week.

Kudlow, 77, is a conservative TV host who served as Trump’s director of the National Economic Council during his first term from April 2018 until he left office in January 2021.

After leaving office, Kudlow joined the Fox Business Network as a television host with a weekday program where he has regularly touted Trump’s economic proposals and has even had the ex-president on his show for interviews.

Kudlow was the latest name floated for a top economic job in the upcoming Trump administration.

The president-elect has rolled out a series of nominations, but he has yet to announce his picks to lead the Treasure Department, Commerce Department and Labor Department as well as who will fill key White House economic policy roles.

Other names that have been floated as potential Treasury Secretary nominees include hedge fund executive Scott Bessent who met with Trump in Florida last week and again on Friday.

Billionaire businessman and Trump’s longtime friend Howard Lutnick is also potentially up for the job. The Cantor Fitzgerald CEO is helping lead the Trump transition team and has been a vocal supporter of Trump’s economic proposals including tariffs.

Robert Lighthizer, who served as U.S. trade representative in Trump’s first term, and Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan are also both in consideration for top economic jobs.

Another billionaire and Trump supporter John Paulson recently ruled himself out of consideration for a role in the upcoming administration.

Larry Kudlow speaking outside the White House while serving as National Economic Council director during Trump’s first term in October 2018

Howard Lutnick

Scott Bessent

According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump is continuing his conversations with candidates on Friday.

Kudlow has been a vocal supporter of Trump’s agenda including the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants in the United States while criticizing Democrats’ legislation including the CHIPS Act and the bipartisan infrastructure deal.

While serving in Trump’s first term, Kudlow acknowledged that it is Americans and hot China who pay for tariffs, but he argued China’s GDP would suffer.

More recently, he argued for the use of tariffs as a negotiating tool and a pathway to free trade while touting proposed corporate tax cuts also pushed by Trump.

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