Jeff Hauser: MacBride nomination is a return to administrations that ended ‘rule-of-law’ and ‘rich-person accountability’

Jeff Hauser, executive director of The Revolving Door Project (RDP) at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), said in an interview on Thursday that the nomination of a former Exxon attorney to be General Counsel to the Treasury Department is a return to the “same old, same old” nominees that defined previous Democratic administrations

“I think that on the legal side of the Biden administration, it’s the same old, same old. We’re seeing a return to the types of appointees that have characterized previous Democratic administrations, that brought you the end of the rule-of-law and the end of white-collar criminal, rich-person accountability,” Hauser said while appearing on Hill.TV’s “Rising.”

The White House announced last week that it had tapped Neil MacBride, former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, to be General Counsel to the Department of the Treasury. Activists and progressive lawmakers have spoken out against MacBride’s nomination as he once sued the Treasury Department on behalf of ExxonMobil when the department penalized the company for allegedly violating international sanctions.

“Merrick Garland is, as Attorney General, what I like to call an ‘unfrozen caveman Clintonite.’ He went into the judiciary during Bill Clinton’s presidency and he is bringing back that 1990’s Justice Department energy to the Biden administration,” Hauser added, saying that this type of “1990’s energy” is not needed.