Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) are joining forces to bash President-elect Donald Trump’s “hypocritical” selection of a Goldman Sachs exec to head up his Treasury Department.
In a rare joint statement, the two Democratic heavyweights slammed Trump’s pick of Steven Mnuchin to serve as his Treasury Secretary, arguing it proves Trump’s vow to “drain the swamp” in Washington was just talk.
{mosads}“During the campaign, Donald Trump told the American people that he was going to change Washington by taking on Wall Street. Donald Trump’s choice for Treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, is just another Wall Street insider,” they said.
“That is not the type of change that Donald Trump promised to bring to Washington — that is hypocrisy at its worst.”
Mnuchin, who served as Trump’s national campaign finance chair, was tapped to head up the Treasury on Wednesday. He has no prior government experience, having previously worked as a Goldman executive before launching his own hedge fund, Dune Capital Management, and also producing several major Hollywood movies.
Warren and Sanders also hammered Mnuchin for his role in acquiring the ailing bank IndyMac during the financial crisis. Mnuchin and several other investors purchased the struggling mortgage lender in 2009, and renamed it OneWest. That bank went on to be subject to several complaints about aggressive foreclosure tactics. And several Democrats have indicated they plan to raise concerns about that part of Mnuchin’s career during the confirmation process.
“After his bank pocketed billions in taxpayer dollars from the bailout, Mnuchin moved on to make a fortune running another bank that aggressively foreclosed on families still reeling from the crisis,” Sanders and Warren said.
“This pick makes clear that Donald Trump wants to cater to the same Wall Street executives that have hurt working families time and again.”
Despite the criticism from Sanders and Warren, who are well known for their harsh view of Wall Street, it is not clear if Mnuchin will face any substantial roadblocks to his confirmation. The reaction from key Republicans in Congress has generally been favorable, as has the reaction of the business community.