Jamie Dimon on suggestion he’d be ideal Biden Treasury secretary: ‘I have never coveted the job’

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon poured cold water on a column suggesting that he join President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet as Treasury secretary, saying he is content in his current role in the private sector.

“I love what I do, and I have never coveted the job. Ever. And some people do, and I applaud that. I love my country, so I will help anyone who has that job,” Dimon said Wednesday at the DealBook Online Summit.

“I want to do this job, that’s what I want to do. If I ever get a call to help, I always take those calls and try to offer my help to whoever’s secretary of Treasury, and any president, by the way,” he added.

Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, addresses rumors that he could be in the running for Treasury Secretary. pic.twitter.com/BNmMpiQeRE

— The Recount (@therecount) November 18, 2020

Dimon was responding to a recent New York Post column calling for Biden to tap the JPMorgan Chase chief to head his Treasury Department. 

Dimon has long been a prominent voice in the private sector, and President Trump reportedly considered him for the Treasury secretary role after winning the 2016 election. 

That post ultimately went to Steven Mnuchin, who Dimon said did an “outstanding” job.

Dimon was rumored to be under consideration by Biden earlier this year to lead the department, but the now-president-elect’s campaign distanced itself from that speculation, and Dimon’s name has not popped up as among those possibly in line for a Cabinet post as Biden cobbles together his administration.

Even if Dimon were to be considered, he’d likely face stiff pushback from progressives who have urged Biden to refrain from staffing his administration with officials working in the banking, lobbying and other industries.