By Nick Timiraos 

WASHINGTON -- President Trump has asked former campaign adviser Stephen Moore to accept a nomination to serve on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, a senior administration official said Friday.

Mr. Trump made the offer to Mr. Moore earlier this week, the official said.

Mr. Trump spoke to Mr. Moore to compliment the economic commentator on an opinion article he co-authored last week calling the Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's policy moves a threat to the U.S. economy. The article was published in The Wall Street Journal, where Mr. Moore previously worked as an editorial-page writer.

The offer is contingent on Mr. Moore clearing the background-check process that is typical for White House nominees, and that process often takes weeks or months, the official said.

Mr. Trump has an "exceedingly high regard for Steve and thinks he will be a terrific addition if he is nominated and confirmed," the official said.

Nominations to the Fed's board are subject to Senate confirmation. There are currently two vacancies on the seven-member board.

Mr. Moore said Friday he had not been formally offered the position. If a nomination ultimately materializes, "I would do it," he said in a brief telephone interview.

Mr. Moore for many years argued against the Fed's postcrisis policies to keep rates low and to buy long-term bonds to stimulate growth, warning that the measures would stoke high inflation. But he has recently said the Fed is making money too tight, echoing Mr. Trump's criticism of Mr. Powell and the Fed.

Mr. Moore now says the Fed should target a commodity-price index to seek a stable dollar.

"The Fed's goal should be to avoid excessively loose or tight money by seeking stable commodity prices," Mr. Moore wrote with his co-author, Louis Woodhill.

Mr. Moore is a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, as well as a commentator on CNN. He founded and served as president of the Club for Growth, a conservative advocacy group, and remains close to Lawrence Kudlow, who became director of the White House National Economic Council last year.

Mr. Moore's candidacy was first reported by Bloomberg News.

The White House isn't as far along in narrowing down a list of candidates for the second Fed vacancy.

The White House previously nominated former Fed economist Nellie Liang for one of the vacancies. She withdrew from consideration in January after the Senate didn't act on her nomination last fall.

In 2017, the White House nominated Carnegie Mellon economist Marvin Goodfriend. A Senate committee advanced his nomination last year on a party-line vote but the nomination expired with the adjournment of the last Congress because it never received a vote on the Senate floor.

The two open seats on the Fed's board would fill terms that run through January 2024 and January 2030.

Nominations to the Fed's board are the primary way for the White House to influence central bank policy. The 14-year terms are staggered, but due to retirements and because the Senate in 2016 did not act on two nominations by President Obama, Mr. Trump has had an unusual opportunity to remake the Fed's board.

He tapped Mr. Powell in November 2017 to succeed then-Chairwoman Janet Yellen in February 2018. He has also filled three other board seats, including those now held by Vice Chairman Richard Clarida and Randal Quarles, the vice chairman for bank supervision.

One challenge for the White House is that many of conservative economists or policy veterans who are popular with Senate Republicans have for many years argued against the kind of easy-money policies advocated now by Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump began sharply criticizing the Fed's moves to raise rates in the second half of last year.

After the Fed raised its benchmark rate in a unanimous decision last December, Mr. Trump vented to his advisers about firing Mr. Powell. His advisers later said the president didn't believe he had the authority to do that.

Mr. Powell has said he won't resign from his post if asked and that he doesn't believe he can be dismissed over a policy dispute. Mr. Trump dined at the White House last month with Mr. Powell and Mr. Clarida.

After raising its benchmark rate four times last year, the Fed has since signaled it is done raising rates. Mr. Powell this week cited slowing global economic growth, restrained inflation pressures and political uncertainty, including from the Trump administration's tariffs and trade negotiations, in prompting that pivot.

In an interview aired Friday on the Fox Business Network, Mr. Trump said growth would have been even stronger if the Fed hadn't tightened policy last year.

"I was right," Mr. Trump said. "I'm not happy with it."

Mr. Powell has repeatedly said political considerations never enter into the Fed's policy decisions, and he has avoided responding directly to any of Mr. Trump's broadsides.

Write to Nick Timiraos at nick.timiraos@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 22, 2019 12:08 ET (16:08 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.