At the exclusive Alfalfa Club dinner, President Trump joked he might sue Fed nominee Kevin Warsh if interest rates were cut, comments an attendee said came off as mean-spirited. Trump described his remarks as a "roast" to reporters and reiterated past claims about asking Vladimir Putin to stop bombing Ukraine because of the cold. Seating charts and reports listed a high-profile, bipartisan guest list, and the appearance followed Trump’s announcement that he nominated Warsh to replace Jerome Powell as Fed chair.
Trump Jokes He’d Sue Fed Nominee Kevin Warsh If Rates Fall, Calls Remarks A “Roast” At Exclusive Alfalfa Club Dinner
US President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, January 30, 2026. - Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg/Getty Images
President Donald Trump joked that he might sue his newly announced Federal Reserve chair nominee, Kevin Warsh, if the nominee moved to cut interest rates, an attendee said after the Alfalfa Club’s invitation-only dinner in Washington on Saturday night.
The president’s address — his first as president at the long-running Alfalfa Club event — ran for more than an hour. An attendee described several of Mr. Trump’s quips as mean-spirited and said they did not always land with the room’s audience of political, military and business figures.
“It was a roast,” Trump told reporters later aboard Air Force One, adding he expected Warsh, a former Fed governor, to work to lower rates.
During the remarks, Mr. Trump invited former Utah Sen. Mitt Romney to stand; when the crowd applauded warmly, the president said he could not tease Romney in front of people clearly fond of him. He also praised his wife, calling Melania Trump a "movie star" after a recent documentary, and repeated that he had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop bombing Ukraine because of the cold — a line he has used previously.
Who Attended
A seating chart obtained by news organizations placed the president at the head table alongside a mix of senior officials and prominent figures. Reported guests included Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller; former President George W. Bush; Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Elena Kagan; Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell; Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser; former presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard; and business leaders such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The guest list underscored the Alfalfa Club’s long-standing tradition of bringing together people from across party and ideological lines — allies and critics in the same room — for an evening of speeches and satire.
Context: Fed Nomination And Rate Pressure
The offhand lawsuit joke came as Mr. Trump has publicly pressured current Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to cut interest rates, at times using harsh nicknames for him. On Friday, the president announced he had nominated Kevin Warsh to be the next Fed chair, concluding a search that began in September to replace Powell.
Following the dinner, Mr. Trump returned to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
Boilerplate and subscription prompts have been omitted.
Help us improve.
