recommended jay powell as chairman of the fed. as alison was just talking about, especially after his bizarre calls with the country's largest banks. >> reporter: that's right, kate. as alison noted, the stock market not really being reflective of what mnuchin was trying to do and find a sunny side to all of this volatility. a source familiar with the calls that mnuchin had this weekend with some of the country's top banking ceos, they say they were totally baffled by these calls. mnuchin was told there were no liquidity issues. he was told by one bank ceo that some of the volatility in washington is causing uncertainty in the stock market with the government shutdown, questions about the position of fed chair jerome powell, et cetera. we're told mnuchin was in listening mode. the source said after the call, it sounded like the ceos had the belief that mnuchin was simply