Congressional Democrats on Wednesday immediately criticized Steven Mnuchin, President-elect Trump’s nominee to lead the Treasury Department, for being too close to Wall Street and for playing a role in bank foreclosures.
“This isn’t draining the swamp — it’s stocking it with alligators,” said Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the top Democrat on the Banking Committee, in a statement Wednesday morning.
Mnuchin began his career at the Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs, and left to start his own investment firm. Following the financial crisis, he and a group of investors bought the failed bank IndyMac from federal regulators, and he has been criticized for how foreclosures were handled at the bank.
On Tuesday, Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee that will consider Mnuchin’s nomination, accused him of “profiting off the victims of predatory lending.”
Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator known for strident criticism of Wall Street, called Mnuchin the “Forrest Gump of the financial crisis — he managed to participate in all the worst practices on Wall Street,” according to Politico.
Asked Wednesday morning on CNBC about complaints about his bank’s management of foreclosures and mortgage lending, Mnuchin noted that regulators approved his bank’s merger with full knowledge of its lending practices.
Several Democrats noted the contrast between Trump’s anti-establishment campaign rhetoric and his selection of a Wall Street veteran for the top financial post.
“Appointing a former hedge fund manager, Goldman Sachs executive, and bank CEO as Treasury Secretary shows his true colors,” Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said of Trump. Waters is the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee.
But Democratic opposition doesn’t mean as much as it used to mean. Democrats themselves changed Senate rules to allow all of a president’s nominees to win confirmation with just a simple majority vote, with the exception of Supreme Court nominees. That means as long as Republicans stick together, Trump’s nominees will sail through the Senate.
Prior to Trump’s surprise election victory, progressive groups were already gearing up to weigh in on financial regulatory nominations, with plans to sway Hillary Clinton against picking bankers for positions if she were elected.
Those plans were upset by Trump’s victory. But Trump has turned to several finance industry players to staff his administration. He announced Wednesday that billionaire investor Wilbur Ross would be his secretary of commerce. Steve Bannon, a former Goldman Sachs employee, will be his top adviser.
