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REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) – President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to be Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has raised more than $ 7 million in speaking fees over the past two years from major financial firms and tech giants , including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Google, according to disclosure forms filed as part of his candidacy.
Yellen was among three leaked financial disclosures by Biden transition officials that were released to the public on Thursday by the government’s Ethics Office. In a separate file, Yellen listed the companies and banks where she had received speaking fees and said she intended to “seek written permission” from ethics officials to “participate personally and substantially ”to questions concerning them.
Yellen was Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018. Her term was not renewed by President Donald Trump. She covered the speaking costs in 2019 and 2020.
His selection by Biden to head the Treasury Department has been applauded by Progressive Democrats, who support Yellen’s work as a labor economist who has long prioritized tackling economic inequality. Since announcing her appointment, Yellen has been committed to tackling systemic racism and climate change.
But receiving hefty payments from Wall Street bankers and other powerful corporations could become an issue as his appointment weaves its way through a tightly divided Senate. Hillary Clinton faced criticism from the left wing of the Democratic Party as she ran for president in 2016 for receiving lucrative speech fees at Wall Street companies.
A spokesperson for Biden’s transition said on Friday that since leaving the Fed, Yellen has “ spoken at economic conferences, universities, and business groups and financial institutions about his experiences and his take on what we can do as a country to build a stronger and grow economy. our competitiveness. He added that “he’s not someone who pulls the plug when it comes to bad actors or bad behavior.”
Disclosure forms were also released Thursday on Biden’s choice to be Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who detailed his work at a consulting firm he co-founded, WestExec Advisors, LLC. They show Blinken received more than $ 1.1 million and made a deal, negotiated in October, to sell his stake in the company, where he advised clients such as Bank of America and Facebook.
Avril Haines, Biden’s choice to be director of national intelligence, revealed to be a consultant at WestExec Advisors and raise around $ 55,000 in fees between October 2017 and last summer. In a separate letter to ethics officials, Haines vowed to recuse himself for a year from issues involving WestExec as well as its other former employers, including Columbia University, Syracuse University and the think tank of the Brookings Institution.
Some advocacy groups began warning just after election day that Biden, who served as a Delaware senator for 36 years and served as vice president for two terms, could rely too much on officials with close ties to the former democratic administrations. Many of these people have left public sector jobs for private sector jobs and are now seeking to return to government, raising concerns about the ‘revolving door’ between politics and corporate and financial influence.
Biden, however, largely ignored those concerns, saying he was not afraid to rely on advisers with deep government experience. He pledged to assemble a cabinet well versed in the workings of government and full of members from all racial and ideological backgrounds who resemble diversity countries they will represent.
Biden’s transition team has announced that it plans to announce other Cabinet picks next week, ahead of inauguration day on January 20. by federal prosecutors investigating the finances of Biden’s son, Hunter.
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