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THE BIG DEAL— Trump drags mild-mannered regulator into political firefight: President Trump’s plan to replace a top federal prosecutor with the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has thrust a mild-mannered financial regulator into the middle of a political fight.
- SEC Chairman Jay Clayton has largely avoided partisan battles and political controversies during his three years as head of the stock market watchdog.
- The registered independent and former Wall Street attorney is among the most conventional of Trump’s financial appointees, steering the SEC toward a business-friendly consensus while irking both Democrats and Republicans with stronger ideological tilts.
But Clayton’s potential nomination to replace Geoffrey Berman as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York has roped him into Trump’s ongoing purge of Justice Department officials. SEC observers say the position isn’t exactly suited for Clayton, especially under the Trump administration.
“Clayton has been perceived as somebody who’s not very political, not an ideologue, particularly when you put him in the context of the current political environment in Washington,” said Ian Katz, director at policy research firm Capital Alpha Partners.
The background: Clayton’s service in the Trump administration began in 2017 on far less partisan terms.
- While most Democratic senators opposed his nomination over concerns he would take a hatchet to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act post-financial crisis reforms enacted by former President Obama, he was confirmed by a 61-37 vote, with nine Democrats and one Independent supporting him.
- Clayton’s tenure has not lived up to the worst fears of his critics — nor the high hopes of his GOP supporters.
“While Clayton may not be as ideological as some Republicans would be in that job, Democrats and investor advocates are disappointed he hasn’t done more — and in more high-profile ways — on enforcement,” Katz said.
The controversy: The events preceding Clayton’s potential nomination may have already dashed his chances of confirmation if he’s officially nominated.
- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a staunch Trump ally, said he would not hold a confirmation hearing for Clayton without the customary go-ahead from the two senators from New York: Democratic Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, each of whom said they will not support Clayton.
“I think it’s over for him,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond and an expert on presidential nominations. “There’s just no chance that [confirmation] will happen, and that’s just a measure of the slipshod way in which they put this together.”
LEADING THE DAY
Trump says he supports another round of stimulus checks: President Trump said Monday that he would support another round of stimulus checks to help the economy bounce back after the coronavirus pandemic.
The president confirmed he was open to a second stimulus check in an interview with Scripps local TV news. When asked about whether he was going to give Americans another round of payments, he said, “Yeah, we are. We are.”
We will be doing another stimulus package,” he added. “It will be very good. It will be very generous.”
When he was asked how much will be provided, Trump answered, “You’ll find out about it.” The president said he expected the decision for a second round to be bipartisan and occur over the next couple of weeks.
Navarro steps back from comments that China trade deal is ‘over’ White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has walked back his statements suggesting that the trade deal between the U.S. and China was in peril, saying Monday that his words were taken “wildly out of context.”
“They had nothing at all to do with the phase one trade deal, which continues in place,” Navarro said, according to Reuters. “I was simply speaking to the lack of trust we now have of the Chinese Communist Party after they lied about the origins of the China virus and foisted a pandemic upon the world.”
President Trump on Monday said in a tweet that the deal was “fully intact” and that he hopes that Beijing will “continue to live up to the terms of the agreement.”
Navarro had earlier that day said that the new trade deal was “over,” citing that the U.S. only learned about the spread of COVID-19 after a Chinese delegation had left Washington, D.C., after the signing of phase one of the deal on Jan. 15.
GOOD TO KNOW
- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday said that his department does not currently plan to further extend the tax-filing deadline but that it’s an issue he’s pondering.
- Sales of new homes in the U.S. rose more than 16 percent in May as states began to peel back restrictions imposed to slow the spread of COVID-19, according to data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau.
- The Washington Examiner: “President Trump routinely, strategically exaggerates his achievements and stretches the truth to manipulate the media, according to a former adviser.”
- A bipartisan group of senators this week introduced a bill to expand a tax break for charitable giving in an effort to encourage donations to nonprofits amid the coronavirus pandemic.