Senate Democrats are dubbing President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin the “Foreclosure King” on a new website they’ve set up to solicit public complaints from people allegedly hurt by Mnuchin’s past work in financial services.
Mnuchin– the former chief executive officer and chairman of OneWest Bank– was accused of aggressively foreclosing on homes during the financial crisis.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Jeff Merkely (D-OR) are leading the charge.
“After years peddling the kind of dangerous mortgage-backed securities that eventually blew up the economy, Mnuchin swooped in after the crash to take a second bite out of families by aggressively–and sometimes illegally–foreclosing on their homes,” Warren said in a statement about the website. “This man has engaged in the worst kinds of practices on Wall Street and directly hurt thousands of working families – and now, Donald Trump wants to literally hand him the keys to the Treasury where he can make big banks even richer at the expense of America’s families.”
Democrats are hoping to collect even more stories about Mnuchin. Already, Democrats are reminding voters of the story of one elderly woman who was forced out of her home after a 27-cent payment error.
The strategy is part of Democrats plan to play hardball with Trump’s cabinet nominees. After a change in the Senate rules in 2013, Republicans will only need 51 votes to confirm Trump’s nominees. That’s likely to be an easy lift for the GOP, but Democrats aren’t going to make the process comfortable.
Democrats have already said they plan to make Trump’s pick for HHS Secretary Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) answer tough questions on his past plans to privatize Medicare.
