Tag: Steve Mnuchin

Trump pressured Mnuchin to label China ‘currency manipulator,’ a move he had previously resisted

Washington Post logoPresident Trump personally pressed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to label China as a “currency manipulator” two weeks ago, a move Mnuchin had previously resisted, three people with direct knowledge of the push said.

The pressure from Trump revealed a more forceful West Wing role in the highly controversial decision. Mnuchin had repeatedly refused to designate China as a currency manipulator because China’s currency moves didn’t meet the Treasury Department’s established criteria for that action.

But Trump exerted immense pressure on Mnuchin earlier this month, after the Chinese let their currency, the yuan, cross a symbolic threshold that it had not passed in some time.

View the complete August 15 article by Damian Paletta and Philip Rucker on The Washington Post website here.

The Mnuchin myth on Harriet Tubman, exposed

Washington Post logoPRESIDENT TRUMP, who as a candidate in 2016 derided as “pure political correctness” the plan to honor Harriet Tubman by featuring the Underground Railroad’s most celebrated conductor’s image on the front of the $20 bill, can rest easy: Thanks to the intervention of his treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, only likenesses of white men will appear on U.S. paper money for the duration of his presidency.

Mr. Mnuchin’s far-fetched pretext for the delay — that eight more years of technical planning were required to prevent counterfeiting issues in the bill’s new design — is now exposed as risible. As the New York Times reported, the design of the new bill, featuring Tubman, was already quite advanced when Mr. Mnuchin announced the move, apparently fearing an even greater backlash should Mr. Trump cancel the project outright. The treasury secretary’s postponement means the new note will not be complete until after Mr. Trump leaves office, even if he serves a second term. Continue reading “The Mnuchin myth on Harriet Tubman, exposed”

House Democrats sue Treasury Department for Trump’s tax returns

Axios logoHouse Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal is filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Treasury Department in an effort to compel the IRS to turn over President Trump’s tax returns.

Why it matters: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has denied multiple requests for Trump’s tax returns, including a subpoena from the House Ways and Means Committee in May — arguing that the demands “lack a legitimate legislative purpose.” The result of Mnuchin’s defiance is likely to be a protracted court battle.

What they’re saying:

  • The lawsuit argues that a section of the IRS code requires “in mandatory terms that Treasury ‘shall furnish'” the House Ways and Means Committee with “any” tax return information that is requested, and that Trump has denied the request for what the committee believes is the first time ever.
  • In response to Treasury’s argument that the request lacks a “legitimate legislative purpose,” the lawsuit claims that nothing in the relevant IRS code requires an explanation. Even if a reason were required, the lawsuit argues that the committee needs the materials for its investigation into tax laws and policies related to presidential tax returns and tax law compliance by Trump.
  • It also argues that “the committee’s power to conduct oversight and investigations is firmly rooted in Congress’s Article I legislative authority.”

View the complete July 2 article by Zachary Basu on the Axios website here.

Justice releases legal opinion backing Treasury’s refusal to release Trump tax returns

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday released a legal opinion backing up the Treasury Department’s decision to reject a request by congressional Democrats for six years of President Trump‘s tax returns.

“While the Executive Branch should accord due deference and respect to congressional requests, Treasury was not obliged to accept the Committee’s stated purpose without question, and based on all the facts and circumstances, we agreed that the Committee lacked a legitimate legislative purpose for its request,” Steven Engel, an assistant attorney general in DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel, said in the 33-page opinion.

The opinion comes after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last month rejected a subpoena from House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) demanding Trump’s personal and business tax returns from 2013 through 2018.

View the complete June 14 article by Naomi Jagoda on The Hill website here.

Watch: Steve Mnuchin squirms after Iowa Democrat corners him on the negative impact of Trump’s tariffs in her state

Trump Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Wednesday had a tough time defending President Donald Trump’s tariffs under tough questioning from Rep. Cindy Axne (D-IA).

During a hearing at the House Financial Services Committee, Axne asked Mnuchin pointed questions about the impact that tariffs were having on American businesses and consumers — and Mnuchin at one point even tried to deny that tariffs were taxes.

After Mnuchin repeatedly dodged her questions about whether businesses would most likely pass on increased production costs to American consumers thanks to Trump’s tariffs, Axne stopped him and told him he was not giving her a “straight answer.”

“Do you agree that American consumers will be paying more as a result of these tariffs?” she asked.

Watch the video below: Continue reading “Watch: Steve Mnuchin squirms after Iowa Democrat corners him on the negative impact of Trump’s tariffs in her state”

Treasury misses second Dem deadline on Trump tax returns

The Treasury Department on Tuesday missed a second deadline from House Democrats to provide President Trump’s tax returns.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a letter that the department can’t act on the request “unless and until it is determined to be consistent with law.”

He said that he expects Treasury to provide the House Ways and Means Committee with a final decision by May 6 after receiving legal conclusions from the Department of Justice.

View the complete April 23 article by Naomi Jagoda on The Hill website he

Mnuchin schooled on law that says turn over Trump’s taxes or face 5 years in prison: ‘There is no wriggle room’

On Thursday, Pultizer Prize-winning business writer David Cay Johnston wrote an editorial laying out the hard truth for Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin: he has no legal choice but to hand over President Donald Trump’s tax returns to Congress. The law says he must.

“The reason will no doubt surprise those who think Trump can thumb his nose at the law governing Congressional access to anyone’s tax returns, including his,” wrote Johnston. “It will for sure shock Trump, who claims that ‘the law is 100 percent on my side.’”

But not so: “Under Section 6103 of our tax code, Treasury officials ‘shall’ turn over the tax returns ‘upon written request’ of the chair of either Congressional tax committee or the federal employee who runs the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. No request has ever been refused, a host of former Congressional tax aides tell me.”

View the complete April 12 article by Matthew Chapman of Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Mnuchin’s Hollywood Ties Raise Ethical Questions in China Talks

WASHINGTON — “Wonder Woman,” the 2017 film that Steven Mnuchin helped produce before becoming Treasury secretary, hauled in about $90 million at the box office in China. It was the film’s most successful international market and a roaring success for an American superhero export. But because of China’s strict laws for foreign films, the studio behind the movie, Warner Bros., received just a small fraction of those revenues.

Now, as Treasury secretary and one of the lead negotiators in trade talks with China, Mr. Mnuchin has been personally pushing Beijing to give the American film industry greater access to its markets — a change that could be highly lucrative to his former industry. While Mr. Mnuchin divested from his Hollywood film production company after joining the Trump administration, he maintains ties to the industry through his wife, the actress and filmmaker Louise Linton.

In 2017, Mr. Mnuchin sold his interest in the company, StormChaser Partners, to Ms. Linton, who at the time was his fiancée. In his 2018 disclosure, which was obtained from the Treasury Department through a records request by The New York Times, StormChaser is listed as one of Ms. Linton’s assets.

View the complete March 14 article by Alan Rappeport and Ana Swanson on The New York Times website here.

Steven Mnuchin Draws Claims of Conflict of Interest in Decision on Russian Oligarch

Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest on the part of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in his decision to lift sanctions on companies controlled by the Russian oligarch Oleg V. Deripaska. Credit: Yuri Gripas, Reuters

WASHINGTON — Democrats in Congress raised ethical concerns on Tuesday about connections between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and a billionaire Republican donor who stands to benefit financially from the Trump administration’s decision to lift sanctions on the Russian oligarch Oleg V. Deripaska’s companies.

In a letter to Mr. Mnuchin, two senior Democratic lawmakers said the Treasury secretary’s connection to an entertainment business owned in part by the donor, Len Blavatnik, a major investor in Mr. Deripaska’s giant aluminum company, Rusal, was a potential conflict of interest.

“We are seeking an explanation as to how you managed your own potential conflicts of interest arising from your personal and professional relationships with major Rusal shareholder Len Blavatnik, a key beneficiary from your decision to delist Rusal,” the lawmakers, Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, the chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, and Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said in the letter.

View the complete January 29 article by Kenneth P. Vogel on The New York Times website here.

Treasury secretary startles Wall Street with unusual pre-Christmas calls to top bank CEOs

Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Treasury secretary, spoke to the CEOs of six major banks about liquidity in an unusual move. The stock market reacted by dropping lower on Monday December 24, 2018. Credit: Andrew Harrer, Bloomberg

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin startled financial analysts, bankers and economists on Sunday by issuing an unusual statement declaring that the nation’s six largest banks had ample credit to extend to American businesses and households.

Mnuchin made the statement on Twitter after calling the leaders of the six banks, seeking to address an issue that had attracted little concern ahead of the treasury secretary’s tweet.

The statement came hours before Asian markets were set to open and following a sharp sell-off that made last week the worst for U.S. markets in a decade. President Trump has been furious at the sell-off, and efforts by Mnuchin to inspire confidence in the market have so far failed.

View the complete December 23 article by Damian Paletta and Josh Dawsey on The Washington Post website here.