Trump’s legal and policy squeeze
- President Trump appealed his New York hush‑money conviction, keeping the criminal case active and legally unsettled. - At the same time, his pick for Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, faced a Senate hearing on April 21, with confirmation timing uncertain. - That combination of legal entanglement and weakening economic approval amid higher prices is adding political pressure on administration economic policy (tucson.com (pbs.org))
President Trump is fighting to overturn his New York hush-money conviction as his Federal Reserve chairman pick, Kevin Warsh, enters a Senate confirmation fight with no clear vote date. (cbsnews.com) (banking.senate.gov) Trump’s lawyers filed the formal appeal on October 28, 2025, asking a New York appellate court to erase his May 2024 conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He received a no-jail sentence before returning to the White House, but the conviction remains on the books unless an appeals court reverses it. (cbsnews.com) That state appeal is only one track. In November 2025, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals told a lower court to reconsider whether the case should move into federal court, where Trump wants to press presidential-immunity arguments tied to the Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling on official acts. (nbcnewyork.com) Warsh, a former Federal Reserve governor, appeared before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, for a hearing on Trump’s nomination to make him both a Fed governor and chair. The committee posted the hearing for 10 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, but it has not posted a confirmation vote date. (banking.senate.gov) At that hearing, Democrats pressed Warsh on whether he would stay independent from Trump and on his personal finances, while Republicans argued he would refocus the central bank on inflation and growth. CNBC reported that Warsh said Trump had not ordered him to cut interest rates. (cnbc.com) The Federal Reserve sets short-term interest rates and tries to keep inflation in check, so a chair nomination becomes more politically sensitive when prices are rising. An AP-NORC poll released April 21 found that 30% of adults approved of Trump’s handling of the economy, down from 38% in March. (apnorc.org) The same poll found that 23% approved of Trump’s handling of the cost of living, 76% disapproved, and 73% described the national economy as poor. AP-NORC said it surveyed 2,596 adults from April 16 to April 20, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. (apnorc.org) AP reported that the drop in economic approval came as the war in Iran pushed up gas prices and weakened confidence even among Republicans. That leaves Trump managing a live criminal appeal and a live battle over who should steer U.S. interest-rate policy at the same time. (pbs.org)
