WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders blasted President Trump as a “fraud” for embracing Wall Street insiders and chiseling away at post-financial crisis protections.
”It is hard not to laugh to see President Trump alongside these Wall Street guys,” Sanders (I-Vt.) told CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday.” “I don’t mean to be disrespectful. This guy is a fraud.“
The progressive icon has spent the first month of Trump’s presidency trying to hold him accountable for some of his campaign pledges that sounded very much like his own: protect Medicare, saving Social Security and draining the swamp of big-money interests in politics.
But Sanders says Trump’s cabinet picks and his Friday directive against President Obama’s financial regulations on banks, known as Dodd-Frank, run afoul of his campaign rhetoric.
“This guy ran for president of the United States saying, “I, Donald Trump, I’m going to take on Wall Street. These guys are getting away with murder,’” Sanders said. “And then, suddenly, he appoints all these billionaires. His major financial adviser comes from Goldman Sachs. And now he is going to dismantle legislation that protects consumers.”
Trump’s chief economic advisor is Gary Cohn, former Goldman Sachs CEO. His pick for Treasury Secretary is Steven Mnuchin, a former partner at Goldman Sachs and a hedge fund manager.
Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday he’s “proud” that both Cohn and Mnuchin are lending their “expertise.” Trump’s aim is to roll back regulations that have also hurt small businesses while protecting consumers, Pence told “Fox News Sunday.”
“The reality is that you can talk to small business owners across this country and since the passage of Dodd-Frank, frankly, we’ve seen the availability of loans in banks across the country began to dry up small businesses,” Pence said. “Simply, the cost of compliance for smaller loans is too heavy in the wake of Dodd-Frank.”
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