President Trump’s nominee for chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission will get a confirmation vote Monday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced on the Senate floor Friday.
Jay Clayton, a Wall Street lawyer, would be the first top independent financial regulator confirmed under Trump.
Clayton, previously a partner at the firm Sullivan and Cromwell, cleared the Senate Banking Committee in early April, despite opposition from Democrats who raised concerns about his ties to Wall Street firms and wanted him to commit to examining potential Trump administration conflicts of interest.
In his confirmation hearings, Clayton told senators that he aimed to lighten the burden of regulations, with a particular concern for making it easier for companies to go public and for more people to be able to invest in those companies.
While those answers pleased Republicans, Democrats were not won over. They warned that because Clayton has represented a range of financial companies, he would have to recuse himself from many enforcement cases. Further, they speculated, banks worried about potential SEC probes could hire Sullivan and Cromwell and force Clayton to recuse himself from any enforcement.
The panel’s top Wall Street critic, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, tried to get Clayton to pledge to investigate the possibility that billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn committed insider trading based on information he received from the Trump administration. Icahn occupies the unusual position of an outside, unpaid adviser to Trump.
