In August, amid President Donald Trump’s clash with the Federal Reserve, top Trump advisers began receiving a wave of calls and text messages from an unexpected source insisting he could solve the administration’s problem, pressing to be appointed to a seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, one of the most influential economic posts in government.
The push was from James Fishback, a 30-year-old investment firm CEO and political newcomer who pitched himself to Trump advisers as a fierce supporter of the president who should replace Adriana Kugler, who had announced she would step down as a Federal Reserve governor, claiming he would serve as Trump’s “bulldog” on the Federal Reserve Board, sources told ABC News.
Fishback privately reached out to James Blair, the White House deputy chief of staff, urging him to consider him for the role while also contacting influential outside Trump advisers, like Alex Bruesewitz, who Fishback asked if he could vouch for him to the president himself.
“I’d be honored if you can put in a good word with the boss for me,” Fishback texted him, according to Bruesewitz.
Amid the push, Fishback even called President Trump directly and pitched himself for the role, sources told ABC News.
Fishback was persistent, lobbying for the role daily, the sources said, and circulated a memo outlining why he should be chosen, which touted his loyalty to Trump and his promises to vote for large interest rate cuts, and included a list of his cable-news appearances, according to a memo reviewed by ABC News.
“I would be honored to serve as a bulldog fighter for the President and his movement at the Federal Reserve for 5 months. I would defend his agenda on the Fed Board (which suffers from Trump Derangement Syndrome),” the memo reads.
After a local Florida social media account posted an unattributed claim on X that Fishback was “being floated” for the Fed role, speculation sparked online and on cable news networks that he was in fact under serious consideration.
But in reality, Fishback was never under consideration for the Fed position, multiple sources tell ABC News, and senior White House officials ultimately concluded that Fishback had created the entire news cycle. President Trump would go on to name Stephen Miran, chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, to the position.
‘Who the hell is this guy?’
Now, months after his unsuccessful push to have Trump name him to the Fed board, Fishback has announced an insurgent campaign to take down Rep. Byron Donalds, President Trump’s endorsed candidate for Florida governor. His announcement on Monday came after spending the last two weeks unloading relentless attacks on Donalds, while even taking shots at President Trump and getting into social media spats with the same Trump advisers he had been lobbying a few short months ago.
When asked if being passed over for the fed role played any role in his decision to run, Fishback told ABC News, “Not at all.”
“I called President Trump in early August and offered to serve out the final months of the remaining term of a newly vacated seat at the Federal Reserve. I was glad to see that he later picked my friend Steve Miran for the role, who I have known for years,” Fishback told ABC News. “The D.C. establishment speaking anonymously to the press to try to hurt my campaign before even I’ve even declared tells you how much they fear my run for Florida governor.”
“The only thing that has to do with this, me getting into this race, is Byron Donalds being an utter America last failure,” he said.
Fishback’s announcement is the latest wrench thrown into next year’s Republican primary for Florida governor, a race that’s already swirling with intrigue. While Trump has endorsed Donalds, sources tell ABC News that Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is term-limited and cannot run for reelection, is still searching for a potential heir to back in the primary to continue what he views as his legacy in the state.
Rumors have circulated about Lt. Gov. Jay Collins possibly jumping into the race, and earlier this year sources told ABC News that DeSantis’ wife, Casey, was seriously considering a 2026 run for Florida governor to succeed her husband. At one point, former congressman-turned-OAN host Matt Gaetz was also weighing a gubernatorial run next year, sources said, but after a damning House Ethics Committee report released earlier this year, speculation around his candidacy has since died down.
When asked if he had ruled out running next year, Gaetz wouldn’t say, instead telling ABC News, “Right now I’m having a blast growing ‘The Matt Gaetz Show’ on One America News!”
Fishback’s effort to secure a spot on the Federal Reserve Board was just one in a growing list of episodes that sources said have puzzled some in the MAGA world since his profile has risen over the course of the year.
“A lot of people are just asking themselves, who the hell is this guy?” one Trump adviser told ABC News.
“Clearly, Byron Donalds and his D.C. establishment backers see me as a threat,” Fishback told ABC News. “They should. Floridians are sick and tired of the inside baseball. They want a governor who will preserve Ron DeSantis’ legacy and make it easier to get a great paying job, buy a home, raise a family, and retire with dignity.”
“Voters want and deserve a leader who will fight for Florida — not sell us out to multinational corporations that want to develop every inch of our state, build AI data centers that threaten our water supply and raise our electric bills, and replace American workers with H-1B servants,” Fishback said.
Fishback’s lobbying for a Fed Board seat was not the first time he had privately sought support from Trump world. Weeks earlier this year, he began reaching out to figures in Trump’s orbit, looking for investments in his newly launched Azoria exchange-traded fund.
Alex Bruesewitz, a senior adviser to Never Surrender PAC and influential MAGA figure who is backing Donalds’ run for governor, told ABC News that Fishback approached him earlier this year and the two met for coffee in West Palm Beach, where Fishback boasted of numerous political and financial ventures he claimed were underway.
Soon after, Fishback sent documents for Bruesewitz to wire $25,000 into the Azoria fund and promising substantial returns.
In an email from late July obtained by ABC News, Fishback thanked Bruesewitz for agreeing to make the investment.
“He was talking about how he’s going to make me so much money in return,” Bruesewitz told ABC News, adding that the documents included lofty projections and plans for additional funds, and highlighted Fishback’s social media reach.
Bruesewitz said that before wiring the money, he became uneasy over the proposal, having only recently met Fishback, and showed the materials to a friend who manages several publicly traded funds. The friend warned that the proposal appeared dubious, Bruesewitz said.
In response, Fishback told ABC News that Bruesewitz has every reason to fabricate smears about him and push them to the media given that he is supporting the Trump-backed candidate in Florida’s gubernatorial primary.
Bruesewitz ultimately declined to invest in Azoria. In October, Trustees moved to liquidate and terminate Azoria’s ETFs, the Azoria 500 Meritocracy ETF (SPXM.Z), and the Azoria Tesla Convexity ETF (TSLV.Z), which the board said came after “considering all relevant information, including without limitation recent litigation involving a principal of” Azoria.
Fishback called the move another example of “de-banking of conservatives,” arguing that it came after he vowed to “stop investing in companies that use the H-1B program to fire Americans.”
