The following article by Brett Samuels was posted on the Hill website November 19, 2017:
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday said he takes it as a compliment that some people suggested that he and his wife looked like villains from a “James Bond” movie when they posed with newly printed currency.
“I never thought I’d be quoted as looking like villains from the ‘James Bond’ [movies]. I guess I should take that as a compliment that I look like a villain in a great, successful ‘James Bond’ movie,” Mnuchin said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Mnuchin and his wife, Louise Linton, caused a stir on social media last week when they posed with a sheet of newly printed dollar bills, the first bearing Mnuchin’s signature.
A photo of the two quickly went viral, with Linton locking eyes with the camera while holding the sheet and wearing a black leather glove, and Mnuchin looking off into the distance.
Asked on Sunday why he posed for the photo, Mnuchin said he was excited to have his signature on the dollar bill, adding that it’s “a great privilege” being Treasury secretary.
“I didn’t realize the pictures were public and going on the Internet and viral, but people can do that,” Mnuchin said Sunday, adding that the beauty of social media is “people can communicate what they want.”
The couple previously caught flak for taking a government jet to Kentucky this summer for the solar eclipse. The Treasury secretary also reportedly requested the use of a government jet during his honeymoon to Europe.
View the post here.