Top Trump adviser Miran resigns White House post to stay on at the Fed

Federal Reserve board member Stephen Miran has resigned from his position as chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, effective immediately.

Miran had been on unpaid leave from his job as President Donald Trump’s chief economist since joining the central bank in September. His Fed term officially ended at the end of January, but he can stay indefinitely until the president nominates someone to his seat.

“While I took an unpaid leave of absence from the Council to come to the Federal Reserve, I promised the Senate that if I should stay on the Board past January, I would formally depart the Council,” Miran said in his resignation letter, which was obtained by POLITICO. “I believe it is important to stay true to my word while I continue to perform the job at the Federal Reserve to which you and the Senate appointed me.”

“It is therefore with a heavy yet proud heart that I tender my resignation from the Council and the White House,” he added, calling working at the White House “the honor of a lifetime.”

Miran, a Harvard-trained Ph.D. economist, was a leading advocate for the president’s trade agenda.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai said Miran’s “brilliant insights and powerful advocacy on behalf of the president made him an enormous asset for the White House, and he established himself as a key member of the Trump administration’s economic team.”

News of Miran’s resignation was first reported by Barron’s.

POLITICO earlier reported that Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee had called on Miran to resign from the central bank now that his term has expired.