Clinton, Trump both have Goldman Sachs alums in key jobs

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have at least one thing in common: they’re both turning to former Goldman Sachs executives to help lead their campaigns.

Trump announced Thursday that he has hired Steve Mnuchin as his national finance chairman, citing in part his “extensive and very successful financial background.”

{mosads}Mnuchin currently heads his own private investment firm, Dune Capital Management, but spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs. His father, Robert, was also a longtime fixture at the Wall Street giant.

One year ago, Clinton announced that her campaign’s chief financial officer would be Gary Gensler, who rose to Goldman’s co-head of finance after 18 years with the firm.

Before joining the campaign, Gensler was actually a Wall Street watchdog, serving as the head of President Obama’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission. There, he gained a reputation as one of the administration’s toughest regulators, making his selection primarily seen as an effort to calm Wall Street skeptics to Clinton’s left.

But Gensler’s years of service at Goldman were enough to disqualify him to head the CFTC for one senator in particular: Clinton’s rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). He actually blocked Gensler’s nomination to lead the watchdog for a time, citing his Wall Street ties.

Sanders has used Goldman Sachs as a political weapon throughout the campaign. In particular, he has pressed Clinton to release the transcripts of paid speeches she delivered to the bank, suggesting those speeches should call her credibility on Wall Street issues into question.

Burnishing his reputation as a big bank critic, Sanders has singled out Goldman for criticism in the past, saying it represents the excesses on Wall Street.

For her part, Clinton has resisted releasing the transcripts, calling on other candidates to make other records public if she is to do the same.

Not to be outdone, Trump has  used Goldman to jab at opponents. Trump went after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for his ties to the bank, where his wife works and where he once received a loan while running for office.

“Goldman Sachs owns him, he will do anything they demand,” he tweeted.

Still, Mnuchin and Gensler will be filling different roles in the campaigns. As finance director, Mnuchin will be tapped with helping Trump raise funds for a general election campaign, after Trump largely relied on his own wealth during the primary.

Meanwhile, Gensler’s position as chief financial officer is primarily focused on managing the funds the campaign already has raised. Dennis Cheng is the Clinton campaign’s top fundraiser, having previously filled top roles at the Clinton Foundation and State Department under Clinton.

But Gensler’s record as a Wall Street reformer has been used by the Clinton campaign the past. The campaign used a statement from Gensler to challenge Sanders’s record on financial reform, one day before he was set to deliver a speech outlining his plan for the financial sector.