Mnuchin Fails to Disclose $100M in Assets… Then it Got Worse

President-Elect Donald Trump has put forth his cabinet picks. If they’re all approved, this would mark the wealthiest U.S. cabinet in history. But before each pick can be granted his or her position, they must go through the Senate nomination hearing. And for some, that hearing was worse than for others. For Steve Mnuchin, Trump’s pick for Treasury Secretary, things did not go well. Just hours before his hearing, it was revealed that Mnuchin failed to disclose $100 million in assets, as well as a few other important pieces of information. What’s next for the treasury nominee?

Here's a List of Assets Mnuchin Failed To Disclose

In politics, there is always heated opposition from across the aisle. Accusations run rampant, and hostilities are always high. But in the case of Treasury nominee Steve Mnuchin, the Democrats were handed an arsenal of firepower with which to hammer Mnuchin during his nomination hearing in front of the Senate when it was revealed he failed to disclose $100 million in assets. And it only got worse from there. Can Mnuchin survive the nomination process or does Trump need to decide on a plan b?

Things got ugly for Mnuchin during the hearing when Democrats focused on his financial disclosure form. In his revised form, Mr. Mnuchin disclosed $95 million in real estate holdings spread across New York, California, and Mexico. He also originally failed to mention that his children own $1 million in art collections. But the biggest omissions on Mnuchin’s part were bigger than money.

Mr. Mnuchin also initially failed to disclose that he is the director of Dune Capital International, an investment fund incorporated in the Cayman Islands, along with management posts in seven other investment funds. That’s a big deal because the Cayman Islands act as a tax haven for corporations, meaning that Mnuchin could be using federal loopholes to avoid paying millions in taxes – not a good look for the nominee for Secretary of Treasury.

Mnuchin was also hammered on his foreclosure practices when he was running OneWest bank following the 2008 housing crisis – by a Republican senator. The questions from Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nevada) focused on how many people received assistance from his bank, which profited heavily from the crisis. Sen. Heller prodded for answers saying he’d asked 7 times over two weeks, and still had not received an answer. OneWest foreclosed on 60,000 families nationwide while denying 75 percent of mortgage modification applications.

Watch the news report from The Wall Street Jornal for a glimpse of what happened in Mnuchin's senate hearing:

Democrats believe Mnuchin is an example of “the swamp” Trump claims to want to drain. They believe Mnuchin’s proposed corporate tax cut, lowering tax from 35 to 15 percent for corporations, will only help the super rich, and not do a single thing for the poorest 8 million families in the U.S. However, Republicans are embracing Mnuchin, and believe his tax plan will bring money back into the country, increasing economic growth by 3-4 percent a year. And with a Republican controlled Congress and Senate, there’s a fair chance Mnuchin is our next Treasury Secretary.

Find out why President-elect Donald Trump wants Mnuchin in the first place as Treasury Secretary when you click this now!

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