Donald Trump is accelerating his search for a new Federal Reserve chair and has publicly narrowed his finalists to Kevin Hassett and Kevin Warsh as he moves toward an early 2026 appointment, provoking market swings and political debate about central bank independence.Hassett, the National Economic Council director, has been criticized by some advisers for being too close to Trump, while Warsh, a former Fed governor and Hoover Institution fellow, has gained support and polling odds on prediction markets such as Kalshi after interviews were rescheduled amid pushback.Hassett has emphasized the Fed's independence on CBS News' "Face the Nation," saying the president would have "no weight" on Federal Open Market Committee votes unless his arguments were sound and data based, even as Trump says he wants a chair who will heed his "smart voice" and press for sharp rate cuts from about 3.6 percent to 1 percent or lower.