UPDATED: Raimondo Being Eyed to Replace Yellen as Treasury Secretary, According to Report

UPDATED: Raimondo Being Eyed to Replace Yellen as Treasury Secretary, According to Report

There is growing noise in Washington, D.C. that U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s days are numbered -- and former Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo, who is sitting U.S. Commerce Secretary, is the leading candidate to replace her.

Yellen, a Brown University graduate, has been highly criticized for mismanaging the Biden administration’s response to inflation.

This week, Yellen said she was wrong last year when she said she anticipated inflation would be "a small risk," "manageable" and "not a problem."

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In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday, she admitted she had misjudged the threat of inflation.

"There have been unanticipated and large shocks to the economy that have boosted energy and food prices," Yellen told Blitzer. "And supply bottlenecks that affected our economy badly that I didn't, at the time, fully understand."

Presently, inflation is at a 40-year high and at 8.3%.

On Friday, MarketWatch reported that Treasury is a department that is likely to receive a new leader either before or directly after the mid-terms.

The period “after a midterm shellacking” would be a “natural culling point” at the White House, said Ben Koltun, director of research at Beacon Policy Advisors, on Friday.

White House chief of staff Ron Klain is expected to leave after the mid-term elections, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen looks likely to depart after the midterms as well, according to Koltun.

“We view Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo as a leading contender to replace Yellen,” the analyst wrote.

“She is seen as one of the stars of the White House Cabinet and is looking to notch a major win with Congress passing China competitiveness legislation by the summer.”

Two weeks ago, Politico reported that Raimondo, not Yellen, made critical calls to Wall Street CEOs on behalf of the White House.

This story was first published 6/3/22 7:09 PM