Tag: Steve Mnuchin

Trump’s treasury secretary attacks Axl Rose’s patriotism but mixes up US and Liberian flags

The Guns N’ Roses frontman exchanged words with Steve Mnuchin on Twitter about the Trump administration’s coronavirus response

It has been said that people in glass houses should not throw stones. But that didn’t stop Steve Mnuchin, the US treasury secretary, from shooting straight at Axl Rose yesterday.

The Guns N’ Roses frontman (real name William Bruce Rose Jr) has recently aired his frustrations on Twitter about the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus. But this time, Rose engaged in a simple bit of name-calling.

To be fair to Mnuchin, the name-calling seemed pretty uncalled for. It’s been at least three days since Mnuchin did something stupid (like encourage US citizens to start traveling domestically during a pandemic); and at least a decade since he practically caused the financial crash. Continue reading.

Sec. Mnuchin battles Fox News’ John Roberts on administration’s virus failures: ‘Nobody expected this to take off at the rate it did’

AlterNet logoTreasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin insisted on Sunday that “nobody” predicted that the new coronavirus pandemic would quickly spread to the United States even though intelligence officials reportedly tried to get the Trump administration to pay attention to the crisis.

During an interview on Fox News Sunday, guest host John Roberts questioned Mnuchin about a recent Washington Post investigation which found that the administration ignored the intelligence officials on the spread of COVID-19.

“The intelligence community was giving the White House warnings back in January that the situation coming out of China was very, very serious and would likely end up in a pandemic,” Roberts explained. “Were you ever warned that something like this was coming down pipe because the initial White House reaction appeared to be, ‘Oh, don’t worry. It’s over there in China.’ I was told, why do we need to respond robustly because there’s only 16 cases here.” Continue reading.

Sparks fly at Steve Mnuchin hearing: ‘The only thing you suffer is smug rhetoric and staggering lies’

AlterNet logoTreasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin expressed outrage during a Tuesday hearing after he was accused of breaking the law and “staggering lies.”

The confrontation occurred in the House Ways and Means Committee when Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) confronted Mnuchin on his refusal to turn over the president’s taxes to Congress.

“This isn’t going to be pretty,” Pascrell noted as he questioned the secretary. “It is impossible to be polite to corruption and people who break the law. So by refusing to turn over Donald Trump’s business and personal tax returns to this committee, I think you’re breaking the law.” Continue reading.

Mnuchin Again Insists 2017 Tax Cuts Will ‘Pay For Themselves’

Trump administration officials continue to make wildly inaccurate statements about the economic impact of the Republican 2017 tax law. On Wednesday, contrary to all available evidence, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told the Senate Finance Committee that he stands by previous administration claims that the tax cuts “will pay for themselves.”

“This will be simple math,” Mnuchin testified under oath. “We measure this over 10 years. We got eight years left. I look forward to writing the committee a letter in eight years going through all the exact numbers.”

Mnuchin’s claim, flagged by American Bridge, a progressive opposition research organization, is widely disputed by experts, even experts who tout the benefits of the 2017 law. Continue reading.

White House budget plan has Secret Service back under Treasury

Agency has been under Department of Homeland Security since it moved there after the 9/11 attacks

The president’s fiscal 2021 budget blueprint assumes the transfer of the Secret Service back to its traditional home within the Treasury Department.

The agency, which provides presidential security and has primary jurisdiction over a variety of financial crimes, has operated as part of the Department of Homeland Security since it moved there in the bureaucratic reorganization after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The proposal, which was the subject of media reports last week, was effectively revealed in a footnote to an Office of Management and Budget summary table for fiscal 2021 obtained Sunday by CQ Roll Call. Continue reading.

Investigators interview IRS whistleblower who warned of meddling in audit of Trump or Pence: report

AlterNet logoThe Senate is investigating claims made by an IRS whistleblower who has accused at least one political appointee in the Treasury Department of interfering with an audit of the tax returns of either President Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence.

Senate investigators conducted an extensive interview with a whistleblower who claimed that there had been improper political interference with the audit process in recent weeks, according to The Washington Post. Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who are the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, received the whistleblower’s transcribed remarks.

The complaint specifies that at least one political appointee meddled in the process for handling audits for one or both officials. The issue was initially disclosed by the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., in an August court filing that was part of a larger lawsuit over the release of Trump’s tax returns. Individuals who described the complaint at the time said the whistleblower was a career IRS official. Officials from the Trump administration dismissed the complaint as hearsay. Continue reading.

Mnuchin says Greta Thunberg can tell us what to do ‘after she goes and studies economics in college’

DAVOS, Switzerland — U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sharply criticized the financial credentials of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on Thursday, saying the 17-year-old should study economics at college before lecturing the U.S. on fossil fuel investments.

Speaking at a press briefing at the World Economic Forum, Mnuchin was asked whether the world’s largest economy needed to completely and immediately divest from fossil fuels.

“Is she the chief economist or who is she? I’m confused,” Mnuchin said, before adding this was “a joke. That was funny.” Continue reading.

How Trump And Mnuchin Slipped Billions In New Tax Breaks To Corporations

A “disturbing” New York Times story details how President Donald Trump’s Treasury Department, led by former Goldman Sachs banker Steve Mnuchin, has quietly weakened elements of the 2017 tax law in recent months to make it even friendlier to wealthy individuals and massive corporations.

Lobbyists representing some of the largest corporations in the world, the Times reported, targeted two provisions in the original 2017 law designed to bring in hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue from companies that had been dodging U.S. taxes by stashing profits overseas.

“The corporate lobbying campaign was a resounding success,” the Times noted. “Through a series of obscure regulations, the Treasury carved out exceptions to the law that mean many leading American and foreign companies will owe little or nothing in new taxes on offshore profits… Companies were effectively let off the hook for tens if not hundreds of billions of taxes that they would have been required to pay.” Continue reading

Mnuchin, The White House Intervene To Secure Opportunity Zone Tax Breaks … To Benefit Wealthy Allies

On Friday, Trump again tried to tout his tax law’s opportunity zone tax break as a boon to low-income and minority communities. In reality, the tax break has only amounted to another handout to wealthy investors, and the Trump administration has even directly intervened to ensure bigger tax breaks for their friends and donors.

Mnuchin personally intervened to secure an opportunity zone tax break for a wealthy investor, fraudster and longtime friend.

New York Times: “Last year, after pressure from Mr. Milken’s business partner and other landowners, the Treasury Department ignored its own guidelines on how to select opportunity zones and made the area eligible for the tax break, according to people involved in the discussions and records reviewed by The Times. The unusual decision was made at the personal instruction of Mr. Mnuchin, according to internal Treasury Department emails. It came shortly after he had spent time with Mr. Milken at an event his institute hosted.” Continue reading “Mnuchin, The White House Intervene To Secure Opportunity Zone Tax Breaks … To Benefit Wealthy Allies”

Mnuchin begs Chris Wallace: Take the president ‘very literally’ — except on being ‘the chosen one’

AlterNet logoTreasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin insisted on Sunday that Americans should take President Donald Trump’s hyperbolic comments “very literally” — but he allowed for some exceptions.

During an interview on FOX News Sunday, host Chris Wallace noted that Trump had recently “ordered” companies not to do business with China.

“When the president says something, how seriously, how literally should we take it?” Wallace asked.

“I think most of the time, you should take it very literally,” Mnuchin insisted. “I think sometimes he says things that are meant to be a joke.”

View the complete August 25 article by David Edwards from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.