Politics & Government

Senate confirms Goldman Sachs executive Mnuchin as Trump’s treasury secretary

By ELIZABETH KOH and Brian Murphy

ekoh@mcclatchy.com

February 13, 2017 07:27 PM

Steven Mnuchin was sworn in as the next treasury secretary on Monday night despite objections by Democrats that the former banker ran a "foreclosure machine" when he headed OneWest Bank. President Donald Trump made remarks about Mnuchin before the

The Senate confirmed Steven Mnuchin as Treasury secretary in a vote Monday evening, adding the former Goldman Sachs executive to President Donald Trump’s Cabinet.

The 53-47 vote, which fell largely along party lines, makes Mnuchin the 10th of Trump’s Cabinet nominees to be confirmed in three weeks. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) was the only Democrat to support the nomination. No Republican voted against Mnuchin.

David Shulkin, Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, was also confirmed Monday night by a vote of 100-0.

February 14, 2017
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February 14, 2017
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Like several Treasury secretaries before him, Mnuchin pursued a career on Wall Street as a Goldman Sachs banker and later as chief executive at OneWest Bank, which faced criticism for foreclosing on more than 36,000 homeowners after it was acquired by his investor group, according to Fortune.

Though experience on Wall Street has been common in the Treasury Department, Goldman Sachs in particular has nurtured those at its helm. The bank’s former co-chairman Robert Rubin took the Treasury Department’s reins in 1995, and Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson Jr., under President George W. Bush, was nominated to the job in 2006.

February 13, 2017