Trump's reported pick for treasury secretary is a former Goldman Sachs partner who drove a Porsche in college
Donald Trump is expected to announce as early as Wednesday that he has chosen Steven Mnuchin, the finance chairman of his presidential campaign who spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs, as his treasury secretary.
In August, Mnuchin, who has no political experience and previously made most of his campaign contributions to Democrats, was profiled by Bloomberg Politics. His father was a partner at Goldman Sachs, and while attending Yale, Mnuchin drove a Porsche and roomed with Eddie Lampert, now a billionaire, and Sam Chalabi, whose uncle Ahmad went on to run the Iraqi National Congress. Mnuchin was tapped to join the secretive, elite Skull and Bones club. He once worked at Soros Fund Management and was chairman of Dune Capital Management, and in 2008, along with some other billionaire investors, he made a $1.6 billion bid on IndyMac after it collapsed. They gave the bank the name OneWest, and it was profitable after a year; in August 2015, they sold it for $3.4 billion.
In April, Trump, who years ago worked on a few building deals with Mnuchin, asked him to be his national finance chairman. Mnuchin's friends told Bloomberg they were shocked, and they had no idea he even knew Trump — many have privately decided he saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime trade, where he worked free of charge for a few months for a shot at being in the Cabinet.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
6 charming homes for the whimsical
Feature Featuring a 1924 factory-turned-loft in San Francisco and a home with custom murals in Yucca Valley
By The Week Staff Published
-
Big tech's big pivot
Opinion How Silicon Valley's corporate titans learned to love Trump
By Theunis Bates Published
-
Stacy Horn's 6 favorite works that explore the spectrum of evil
Feature The author recommends works by Kazuo Ishiguro, Anthony Doerr, and more
By The Week US Published
-
US port strike averted with tentative labor deal
Speed Read The strike could have shut down major ports from Texas to Maine
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Biden expected to block Japanese bid for US Steel
Speed Read The president is blocking the $14 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan's Nippon Steel, citing national security concerns
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Judges block $25B Kroger-Albertsons merger
Speed Read The proposed merger between the supermarket giants was stalled when judges overseeing two separate cases blocked the deal
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Rupert Murdoch loses 'Succession' court battle
Speed Read Murdoch wanted to give full control of his empire to son Lachlan, ensuring Fox News' right-wing editorial slant
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Bitcoin surges above $100k in post-election rally
Speed Read Investors are betting that the incoming Trump administration will embrace crypto
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Enron mystery: 'sick joke' or serious revival?
Speed Read 23 years after its bankruptcy filing, the Texas energy firm has announced its resurrection
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US charges Indian tycoon with bribery, fraud
Speed Read Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been indicted by US prosecutors for his role in a $265 million scheme to secure solar energy deals
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Boeing machinists approve contract, end strike
Speed Read The company's largest union approved the new contract offer, ending a seven-week strike
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published