If confirmed, James Donovan would be the sixth member of President Donald Trump’s administration with ties to Goldman Sachs.
President Donald Trump has selected yet another Goldman Sachs executive to fill a senior role in his administration, naming the firm’s current managing director, James Donovan, to serve as deputy Treasury secretary.
Donovan would be the sixth member of Trump’s team with ties to Goldman, which was once described as “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.”
Donovan’s now-boss, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, also worked at the investment bank. National Economic Council director Gary Cohn; White House senior counselor for economic initiatives Dina Powell; and chief strategist Steve Bannon also formerly held positions within the very institution that Trump pointed to on the campaign trail as a symbol of Wall Street corruption and greed. Jay Clayton, Trump’s nominee to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), was a Goldman Sachs attorney.
The hypocrisy didn’t go unnoticed on social media:
Goldman Sachs alum who is Trump’s Treasury sec’y picks Goldman exec to be his deputy. So much populism, it’s tiring.
Goldman Sachs alum who is Trump's Treasury sec'y picks Goldman exec to be his deputy. So much populism, it's tiring. https://t.co/e9o2L8qIKo
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) March 15, 2017
2017: Trump just nominated a FIFTH Goldman Sachs official. 2016: pic.twitter.com/JB8xLlgNC4
— Ciaran Jenkins (@C4Ciaran) March 15, 2017
Is there anyone left running Goldman Sachs? #polishingresume https://t.co/oAqpzr81kT
— Sandy Allnock (@sandyallnock) March 15, 2017
You can pretty much go back and read every campaign attack by Trump as pure projection now. https://t.co/Yrz79e2epO
— Schooley (@Rschooley) March 15, 2017
Can we skip a step and just have the White House do a merger with Goldman Sachs? https://t.co/oZKz4FAusz
— Amy Siskind (@Amy_Siskind) March 15, 2017
Politico reported that “[t]he nomination will…come as something of a relief to Wall Street.”
The Washington Post reports that Donovan, who “back[ed] Mitt Romney and later Jeb Bush as they sought the White House,” will likely have “a broad portfolio, working with Congress, industry groups, and the Treasury Department’s rank and file to advance the administration’s agenda and to make sure operations are running properly.”
The New York Times adds: “Mr. Mnuchin and Mr. Donovan will tackle not only changes to the corporate and individual tax codes but also the potential restructuring of the government-sponsored mortgage guarantors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”
Donovan must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
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