Who is Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin?
Mnuchin spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is overseeing the U.S. Treasury's response to one of the most unprecedented economic downturns in history caused by the coronavirus.
President Trump picked Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive, for the Treasury post after he served as the national finance chairman for Trump's 2016 campaign. The pick surprised some, who saw Mnuchin as the Wall Street elite that Trump had criticized on the campaign trail.
Mnuchin spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs, where his father had also worked, according to Forbes. He got a job there right after graduating from Yale University with a degree in economics.
In this April 21, 2020, file photo Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
"I started on a folding chair in the mortgage department," Mnuchin said in his confirmation hearing statement. "Nine years later, and after many sleepless nights, I was put in charge of Mortgages, U.S. Government Bonds, and Municipal Securities."
"Several years after that, I worked directly for future Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson as the firm's Chief Information Officer," he continued. "In that role I oversaw 5,000 people and a $1 billion budget."
Mnuchin is worth $400 million, according to a 2019 analysis from Forbes, and was running his own investment business called Dune Capital Management before jumping on board the Trump train.
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Mnuchin also has a Hollywood connection. Besides being married to actress Louise Linton, he helped fund popular films including "American Sniper" and "Batman vs. Superman" and even appeared in "Rules Don't Apply," a 2016 film directed by Warren Beatty.
Mnuchin was also executive producer of "The Lego Batman Movie," although he had to walk back 2017 comments in which he jokingly told Axios "you should all send your kids to Lego Batman," NBC News reported.