Mnuchin Dismisses ‘Nonsense’ by Wall Street Journal Accusing Him of Giving Pelosi ‘Half’ of What She Wants

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday dismissed “nonsense” claims by The Wall Street Journal editorial board calling him “a Keynesian whose idea of compromise is half of whatever” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wants.

“Mr. Secretary, there has been vocal criticism from Republicans about your negotiating saying, in essence, that you’re giving away the store,” Fox News’ Bret Baier observed in an interview with Mnuchin. “The president’s joked that he doesn’t know if you’re a Democrat or Republican.” He also recalled the Journal’s claim in its July editorial about Mnuchin, “Republicans in the age of Donald Trump don’t know what they stand for on economics.”

Mnuchin replied that his policy stemmed from the president. “Let me first say, I don’t take the Wall Street Journal editorials personally. Sometimes they have good things to say, and sometimes it’s nonsense, like this case. As I’ve said before, I don’t agree to anything that I don’t review with the president. I speak to the president daily.”

Mnuchin — a long-time friend of the president’s from New York — served as the finance chairman for Trump’s 2016 campaign, and was one of Trump’s first Cabinet appointments after his election. Some Republicans have viewed him skeptically, particularly as he negotiates with congressional Democrats for a second stimulus package related to the coronavirus. Democrats are requesting at least $2.5 trillion in new spending in that package.

“The speaker has refused to sit down and negotiate unless we agree to something like a $2.5 trillion deal in advance and, Bret, as you know, we put $3 trillion into the economy when the economy was completely shut down,” Mnuchin said. “We’ve now reopened the economy. Let’s do a more targeted bill now. If we need to do more in 30 days, we will continue to do more.

“For now the most important thing is to make sure, at the end to have month, we don’t shut down the government, and we get something past the election,” he added.

Watch above via Fox News.

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