Donald Trump Names Goldman Sachs Alum As His New Finance Chair

Steven Mnuchin - April 17, 2013 - The Kaleidoscope Ball Benefitting The UCLA Children's Discovery And Innovation Institute At Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA held at Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills, Ca. Photo Cre... Steven Mnuchin - April 17, 2013 - The Kaleidoscope Ball Benefitting The UCLA Children's Discovery And Innovation Institute At Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA held at Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills, Ca. Photo Credit: Andreas Branch/Patrick McMullan/Sipa USA MORE LESS
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Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee who has made criticism of politicians’ cozy relationship with Wall Street a hallmark of his campaign, has named Steven Mnuchin his finance chair. Mnunch spent 17 years working for Goldman Sachs before launching his own hedge fund, according to a Variety story about his involvement in a bankruptcy mess at a Hollywood studio.

“Steven is a professional at the highest level with an extensive and very successful financial background. He brings unprecedented experience and expertise to a fundraising operation that will benefit the Republican Party and ultimately defeat Hillary Clinton,” Trump said in a statement announcing Mnunch’s position on the campaign.

Trump has attacked his likely general election rival Hillary Clinton for being “crooked,” and pitched himself as a candidate not beholden to special interests. He also targeted Ted Cruz’s wife for her career at Goldman Sachs and has also dissed hedge fund managers while on the trail, arguing that, “The hedge fund guys are getting away with murder.”

Last year, Variety reported Mnuchin quietly left his seat on the board of Relativity Media, a Beverly Hills studio his firm invested in, prompting some controversy:

With Relativity’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing last week, those high hopes have been dashed, and Mnuchin has been left in a particularly uncomfortable position. The money-man and fellow investors in a Dune Capital fund are said to have lost as much as $80 million — equity that is almost certain to be lost for good, said two sources familiar with the situation. And disgruntled Relativity investors privately are questioning how a bank Mnuchin once headed –OneWest Bank of Pasadena – was allowed by Relativity to drain $50 million from the studio just weeks prior to the July 30 insolvency filing.

According to Buzzfeed, Mnuchin also worked for George Soros, a hedge fund manager and major donor to left-leaving politicians and causes.

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Notable Replies

  1. Reason #138 Why Trump won’t be able to use Clinton’s speeches against her.

  2. Ok Bernie now is your time to show you are a part of the Democratic family…

  3. Donald Trump told Fox News anchor Chris Wallace that he’s living in a “world of make-believe” as he defended his business record in Atlantic City.

    Wallace asked Trump in Thursday’s GOP debate why the nation should trust him to run the country’s business when Trump Corp.'s casinos and hotels have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century.

    In response, the real estate mogul argued he had used the country’s bankruptcy laws to help his businesses — and the people employed by them.
    “Because I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, my employees, myself and my family,” Trump said. “I have never gone bankrupt.”

    “That’s your line,” Wallace said. “But your companies have gone bankrupt.”

    “What am I saying?” Trump said heatedly.

    Wallace responded by bringing up a specific property in Atlantic City that went bankrupt.

    “Well sir, let’s just talk about the latest example, which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009,” Wallace said. “In that case alone lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off.”

    Trump responded by criticizing the banks he was in business with, and by suggesting the question was naive.

    “First of all these lenders are not babies,” Trump responded. “They are killers. These are not the nice sweet little people you think. You are living in the world of make-believe, Chris, if you want to know the truth.”

  4. The cynic in me thinks the media built Drumpf up just so they could tear him down during sweeps week.

  5. Severus Snape with glasses, a haircut and a suit…

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