SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
'Foreclosure King' Mnuchin Put On Defensive at Senate Hearing
"Mnuchin didn't mention the name of a single victim in his remarks," journalist David Dayen reports. "He gave dubious statistics that fall apart upon scrutiny."
Jan 19, 2017
At Thursday's hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, U.S. Treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin was forced to defend his offshore holdings and his record at the bank dubbed a "foreclosure machine."
Mnuchin faced occasionally tough questioning from Democrats on the Finance Committee, including Sens. Ron Wyden (Ore.), Bob Casey (Pa.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), and Claire McCaskill (Mo.), who drilled into his time running OneWest Bank, his offshore business ventures, and the conflicts of interest posed by President-elect Donald Trump's foreign debts.
Watch Wyden take on the tax havens:
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) also delved into the matter:
Meanwhile, McCaskill reminded Mnuchin that as head of the Treasury Department he would oversee the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)--"which investigates foreign investments into U.S. businesses for possible national security conflicts," as Business Insider explains--and in turn be tasked with evaluating the debt from President-elect Donald Trump's businesses held by foreign entities:
Steve Mnuchin can't tell Sen. Claire McCaskill how much of Trump's debt is held by foreign entities. #draintheswamp pic.twitter.com/Efj1pkLVIV
-- Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) January 19, 2017
And both Brown and Casey dug into Mnuchin's record with OneWest, which foreclosed on tens of thousands of families after Mnuchin and his investors bought it.
Democrats not on the committee, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) weighed in as well.
But journalist and author David Dayen, writing Thursday afternoon at The Nation, said Democrats missed their opportunity to truly "expose Mnuchin as a predator."
"Democratic committee members pummeled him over the tax haven," Dayen wrote, referring to newly uncovered revelations that Mnuchin was director of investment funds incorporated in offshore havens like the Cayman Islands and Anguilla. But, Dayen continued, that line of questioning "got bogged down into an arcane discussion of hedge fund rules and tax law, when there were literally thousands of human stories, of people who lost everything they had at the hands of Steve Mnuchin's bank, waiting to be discussed."
One particularly impactful exchange was between Mnuchin and a Republican senator, Dean Heller of Nevada. Mnuchin opponents have targeted Heller's district with ads in recent weeks, recognizing him as a possible swing vote on this confirmation. Dayen reports:
Mnuchin didn't mention the name of a single victim in his remarks. He gave dubious statistics that fall apart upon scrutiny. And this tripped up Mnuchin with an important Senator, Republican Dean Heller of Nevada, one of the worst states for foreclosures. Heller asked how many Nevada loans were in OneWest's servicing portfolio. Mnuchin didn't know. He asked how many foreclosures and loan modifications OneWest committed in Nevada. Mnuchin didn't know. Heller apparently asked this of Mnuchin and his staff seven different times for weeks, and got no answer. Heller asked why Mnuchin and his investors bought OneWest. Mnuchin said it would have been more lucrative to invest in Bank of America. (Not true; the investors doubled their money when OneWest was sold) Heller keyed in on the FDIC Loss-Share Agreement with OneWest, where the agency committed to backstop losses by the bank. Mnuchin couldn't give a figure on how much money FDIC paid OneWest. The number is $1.2 billion. "You're saying $1.2 billion isn't an incentive to foreclose?" Heller asked. Mnuchin said no, but combined with the normal incentives among servicers to foreclose, this backstop was critical for OneWest.
Heller's tough questioning suggests that he might not be inclined to support Mnuchin. And one senator in the committee could bottle up the nomination. That's worth watching.
Watch here:
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
At Thursday's hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, U.S. Treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin was forced to defend his offshore holdings and his record at the bank dubbed a "foreclosure machine."
Mnuchin faced occasionally tough questioning from Democrats on the Finance Committee, including Sens. Ron Wyden (Ore.), Bob Casey (Pa.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), and Claire McCaskill (Mo.), who drilled into his time running OneWest Bank, his offshore business ventures, and the conflicts of interest posed by President-elect Donald Trump's foreign debts.
Watch Wyden take on the tax havens:
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) also delved into the matter:
Meanwhile, McCaskill reminded Mnuchin that as head of the Treasury Department he would oversee the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)--"which investigates foreign investments into U.S. businesses for possible national security conflicts," as Business Insider explains--and in turn be tasked with evaluating the debt from President-elect Donald Trump's businesses held by foreign entities:
Steve Mnuchin can't tell Sen. Claire McCaskill how much of Trump's debt is held by foreign entities. #draintheswamp pic.twitter.com/Efj1pkLVIV
-- Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) January 19, 2017
And both Brown and Casey dug into Mnuchin's record with OneWest, which foreclosed on tens of thousands of families after Mnuchin and his investors bought it.
Democrats not on the committee, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) weighed in as well.
But journalist and author David Dayen, writing Thursday afternoon at The Nation, said Democrats missed their opportunity to truly "expose Mnuchin as a predator."
"Democratic committee members pummeled him over the tax haven," Dayen wrote, referring to newly uncovered revelations that Mnuchin was director of investment funds incorporated in offshore havens like the Cayman Islands and Anguilla. But, Dayen continued, that line of questioning "got bogged down into an arcane discussion of hedge fund rules and tax law, when there were literally thousands of human stories, of people who lost everything they had at the hands of Steve Mnuchin's bank, waiting to be discussed."
One particularly impactful exchange was between Mnuchin and a Republican senator, Dean Heller of Nevada. Mnuchin opponents have targeted Heller's district with ads in recent weeks, recognizing him as a possible swing vote on this confirmation. Dayen reports:
Mnuchin didn't mention the name of a single victim in his remarks. He gave dubious statistics that fall apart upon scrutiny. And this tripped up Mnuchin with an important Senator, Republican Dean Heller of Nevada, one of the worst states for foreclosures. Heller asked how many Nevada loans were in OneWest's servicing portfolio. Mnuchin didn't know. He asked how many foreclosures and loan modifications OneWest committed in Nevada. Mnuchin didn't know. Heller apparently asked this of Mnuchin and his staff seven different times for weeks, and got no answer. Heller asked why Mnuchin and his investors bought OneWest. Mnuchin said it would have been more lucrative to invest in Bank of America. (Not true; the investors doubled their money when OneWest was sold) Heller keyed in on the FDIC Loss-Share Agreement with OneWest, where the agency committed to backstop losses by the bank. Mnuchin couldn't give a figure on how much money FDIC paid OneWest. The number is $1.2 billion. "You're saying $1.2 billion isn't an incentive to foreclose?" Heller asked. Mnuchin said no, but combined with the normal incentives among servicers to foreclose, this backstop was critical for OneWest.
Heller's tough questioning suggests that he might not be inclined to support Mnuchin. And one senator in the committee could bottle up the nomination. That's worth watching.
Watch here:
Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
At Thursday's hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, U.S. Treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin was forced to defend his offshore holdings and his record at the bank dubbed a "foreclosure machine."
Mnuchin faced occasionally tough questioning from Democrats on the Finance Committee, including Sens. Ron Wyden (Ore.), Bob Casey (Pa.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), and Claire McCaskill (Mo.), who drilled into his time running OneWest Bank, his offshore business ventures, and the conflicts of interest posed by President-elect Donald Trump's foreign debts.
Watch Wyden take on the tax havens:
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) also delved into the matter:
Meanwhile, McCaskill reminded Mnuchin that as head of the Treasury Department he would oversee the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)--"which investigates foreign investments into U.S. businesses for possible national security conflicts," as Business Insider explains--and in turn be tasked with evaluating the debt from President-elect Donald Trump's businesses held by foreign entities:
Steve Mnuchin can't tell Sen. Claire McCaskill how much of Trump's debt is held by foreign entities. #draintheswamp pic.twitter.com/Efj1pkLVIV
-- Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) January 19, 2017
And both Brown and Casey dug into Mnuchin's record with OneWest, which foreclosed on tens of thousands of families after Mnuchin and his investors bought it.
Democrats not on the committee, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) weighed in as well.
But journalist and author David Dayen, writing Thursday afternoon at The Nation, said Democrats missed their opportunity to truly "expose Mnuchin as a predator."
"Democratic committee members pummeled him over the tax haven," Dayen wrote, referring to newly uncovered revelations that Mnuchin was director of investment funds incorporated in offshore havens like the Cayman Islands and Anguilla. But, Dayen continued, that line of questioning "got bogged down into an arcane discussion of hedge fund rules and tax law, when there were literally thousands of human stories, of people who lost everything they had at the hands of Steve Mnuchin's bank, waiting to be discussed."
One particularly impactful exchange was between Mnuchin and a Republican senator, Dean Heller of Nevada. Mnuchin opponents have targeted Heller's district with ads in recent weeks, recognizing him as a possible swing vote on this confirmation. Dayen reports:
Mnuchin didn't mention the name of a single victim in his remarks. He gave dubious statistics that fall apart upon scrutiny. And this tripped up Mnuchin with an important Senator, Republican Dean Heller of Nevada, one of the worst states for foreclosures. Heller asked how many Nevada loans were in OneWest's servicing portfolio. Mnuchin didn't know. He asked how many foreclosures and loan modifications OneWest committed in Nevada. Mnuchin didn't know. Heller apparently asked this of Mnuchin and his staff seven different times for weeks, and got no answer. Heller asked why Mnuchin and his investors bought OneWest. Mnuchin said it would have been more lucrative to invest in Bank of America. (Not true; the investors doubled their money when OneWest was sold) Heller keyed in on the FDIC Loss-Share Agreement with OneWest, where the agency committed to backstop losses by the bank. Mnuchin couldn't give a figure on how much money FDIC paid OneWest. The number is $1.2 billion. "You're saying $1.2 billion isn't an incentive to foreclose?" Heller asked. Mnuchin said no, but combined with the normal incentives among servicers to foreclose, this backstop was critical for OneWest.
Heller's tough questioning suggests that he might not be inclined to support Mnuchin. And one senator in the committee could bottle up the nomination. That's worth watching.
Watch here:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.