Mnuchin: Trump ‘absolutely a Republican’

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is defending President Trump’s Republican bonafides, which have been questioned after the president struck a fiscal deal with Democrats in Congress.

“The president is absolutely a Republican, as am I, by the way,” Mnuchin said Tuesday at a conference sponsored by CNBC and Institutional Investor Magazine.

Trump broke with Republican leaders last week when he agreed with Democrats to lift the debt ceiling, fund the government for three months and approve $15 billion in disaster aid for victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Many in Washington speculated the deal signaled Trump, who supported Democrats during his business career, was trying to forge a path as a political independent. They also said the deal gives leverage to Democrats in future talks over the borrowing limit and tax reforms.

But Mnuchin, who was said to oppose the fiscal deal, downplayed those possibilities and said on Tuesday that the president was simply trying to approve must-pass legislation.

“It was important that the president reached out to Democrats and showed he could get things done on a bipartisan basis,” the Treasury secretary said. “The president would like to have bipartisan support.”

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) favored a longer-term debt limit extension so that lawmakers would not have to take another thorny vote before the 2018 midterm elections.

Mnuchin said the administration’s ties to Ryan and McConnell remain strong despite the disagreement over the fiscal package, noting he met with Ryan Monday and Trump dined with the Speaker last week.

“These relationships are very important and the relationships with the president are there,” he said.