Kevin Warsh, nominee for US Federal Reserve Chair, testifies during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on his nomination on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on April 21, 2026. Mandel Ngan | Afp | Getty Images Federal Reserve chair nominee Kevin Warsh believes the Fed's statutory independence doesn't fully extend to international policy issues, he said in in written responses published Tuesday to Senate Democrats' questions about the Fed's authority to establish swap lines. Warsh in those comments also flatly denies having any connection to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and hints he will abide by a plan to rely on the Fed's inspector general to resolve a federal criminal investigation into the Fed under its current chair Jerome Powell . Swap lines have become an urgent question in Washington after the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that the United Arab Emirates had discussed opening one during conversations about potential U.S. assistance for any Iran war-related economic fallout.…