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Trump Nomination of Crypto Banker Howard Lutnick Another 'Win for the Billionaire Class'
"Just another reminder that Trump serves the oligarchy, not the people," said former Labor Secretary Robert Reich.
Nov 20, 2024
Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen feigned surprise on Wednesday over President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Wall Street CEO Howard Lutnick to lead the U.S. Department of Commerce.
"Oh look, another billionaire has made his way into Trump's Cabinet," said the group, noting Lutnick is also a promoter of cryptocurrency and a Trump megadonor. "The conflicts of interest are almost too many to count."
Among the conflicts are Lutnick's involvement in the crypto industry and federal and state cases against Cantor Fitzgerald.
In addition to running the Wall Street firm, Lutnick is a banker for the "stablecoin" company Tether; purchasers receive a Tether token for $1, with the proceeds invested in reserves and Treasury bonds managed by Lutnick's Cantor Fitzgerald.
As Public Citizen noted, New York Attorney General Letitia James found in 2021 that Tether and another crypto firm "recklessly and unlawfully covered up massive financial losses to keep their scheme going and protect their bottom lines."
The company is also reportedly under federal investigation over alleged criminal violations of anti-money laundering rules and sanctions.
Public Citizen also said that while co-chairing Trump's transition team, Lutnick "may also have helped arrange a meeting between Trump and Coinbase chief Brian Armstrong," who "helped steer a record amount of political spending from the crypto industry into the 2024 election."
Crypto firms poured over $119 million into directly influencing the 2024 federal elections, Public Citizen found in August, making the industry's spending second only to that of fossil fuel companies.
As Politico reported in October, even other members of Trump's inner circle have accused Lutnick of using his transition team co-chair position to take meetings on Capitol Hill and "talk about matters impacting his investment firm, Cantor Fitzgerald—including high-stakes regulatory matters involving its cryptocurrency business."
Lutnick's nomination, said former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, serves as a reminder that "Trump serves the oligarchy, not the people."
"Debris from crypto's political spending tsunami will jam up more halls in Washington than ever before if Lutnick is confirmed as secretary of commerce," said Bartlett Naylor, a financial policy advocate for Public Citizen. "The president-elect, who once correctly called bitcoin a scam, now surrounds himself with even more crypto enablers. Cryptocurrency won't return good jobs to the heartland or reduce food prices; it will only thin the wallets of those vulnerable to a now government-legitimized con."
Government watchdog Accountable.US pointed to more than $19 million in political donations Lutnick has made since 2009, nearly all of which went to GOP candidates and political action committees. He contributed $6 million to Trump's super PAC, Make America Great Again, Inc., in 2024 alone.
"Howard Lutnick's questionable qualifications to lead the Department of Commerce begin and end with his loyalty to the president-elect," said Accountable.US executive director Tony Carrk.
Tether isn't the only Lutnick-linked company that's been investigated for wrongdoing. The Securities and Exchange Commission fined Cantor Fitzgerald $1.4 million in 2023, saying the company repeatedly failed "to identify and report customers who qualified as large traders." The company also agreed to pay $16 million in fines to the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2022 for using unauthorized communication channels.
Should Lutnick be confirmed as commerce secretary, Accountable.US said a "major regulatory conflict" could arise due to a dispute between the BGC Group, a spin-off brokerage of Cantor Fitzegerald, and futures and commodities exchange CME Group, over a competing trading platform BGC Group is launching.
"Lutnick's company's violations resulting in financial regulator fines and millions in right-wing political donations shows that political devotion takes precedence over actual experience to do the job in Trump's Cabinet," said Carrk.
Trump campaigned as a champion of working people as he railed against high grocery prices. As The New Republicreported on Tuesday, Lutnick has showered Trump's plan for across-the-board tariffs with effusive praise—even as leading economists warn the plan to impose tariffs on foreign imports will pass higher costs onto consumers, not foreign countries.
"In September, Lutnick told CNBC that 'tariffs are an amazing tool for the president to use—we need to protect the American worker,'" wrote Edith Olmsted. "Lutnick also gushed about tariffs at Trump's fascistic rally in Madison Square Garden last month, claiming that America was better off 100 years ago, when it had 'no income tax and all we had was tariffs.' His high praise for tariffs came even as he admitted Americans would face higher prices as a direct result."
Lutnick's nomination, said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), "is a win for the billionaire class at the expense of working people."
"The across-the-board tariff plan," she said, "is a distraction from the MAGA scam to extend tax giveaways for giant corporations and billionaires like Howard Lutnick."
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Alarm Over Trump Choosing 'Extreme, Conspiratorial' RFK Jr. to Lead HHS
"Confirming this lunatic would amount to killing people," one journalist warned amid fears Trump will avoid Senate votes for controversial picks.
Nov 14, 2024
U.S. lawmakers, government watchdogs, and other critics responded with alarm to President-elect Donald Trump's long-anticipated announcement on Thursday that he wants Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
"Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a clear and present danger to the nation's health," declared Public Citizen co-president Robert Weissman. "He shouldn't be allowed in the building at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), let alone be placed in charge of the nation's public health agency."
"Donald Trump's bungling of public health policy during the Covid pandemic cost hundreds of thousands of lives," Weissman highlighted. "By appointing Kennedy as his secretary of HHS, Trump is courting another policy-driven public health catastrophe."
The RFK Jr. decision continued a trend of Trump choosing Cabinet secretaries who have demonstrated loyalty to him, even if their qualifications are questionable. After running for president as a Democrat and then an Independent—without support from many members of his political family—Kennedy suspended his campaign and endorsed the Republican in August.
"RFK Jr. poses a danger to public health, scientific research, medicine, and healthcare coverage for millions."
Leading up to the election last week, Trump acknowledged plans to let Kennedy "go wild on health," sparking speculation that he would let the lawyer and conspiracy theorist lead HHS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration, or National Institutes of Health.
Once lauded for his environmental activism, Kennedy has recently faced criticism for spreading anti-vaccine misinformation, downplaying the climate emergency, and opposing a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. There have also been revelations about a brain worm, a dead baby bear, a whale head, a reported affair with a journalist, and an alleged sexual assault of a babysitter.
Trump—who is known for his love of McDonald's—said in his statement about RFK Jr. that "for too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health."
"The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country," Trump continued. "Mr. Kennedy will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!"
Accountable.US executive director Tony Carrk cast doubt on the suggestion that Kennedy's appointment would benefit the public.
"Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spent years recklessly promoting unfounded, anti-scientific conspiracies about everything from vaccines to antidepressants," Carrk said in a statement. "Not only does he lack any serious credentials, but his troubling grasp of facts poses a serious threat to the health of millions of Americans."
Journalist Mehdi Hasan compared Kennedy to the far-right founder of the fake news website Infowars: "It is difficult to overstate just how extreme, conspiratorial, and insane RFK's views are, on vaccines, microchips, and beyond. He's Alex Jones in a suit."
Noting Kennedy's previous pledge to halt research on drug development and infectious diseases, Slate's Mark Joseph Stern called his selection "just a massive 'fuck you' to the millions of families relying on advancements in treatment for loved ones with ALS, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cancer, and so much more," adding that "confirming this lunatic would amount to killing people."
Some senators are already speaking out. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said Thursday: "Dangerous. Unqualified. Unserious."
Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in a statement that "Trump's health agenda isn't a secret: worse healthcare at a higher cost for American families."
"Trump and Republicans in Congress have a proven track record of empowering insurance companies and Big Pharma while leaving everyday Americans to foot the bill. That means higher premiums, weakened protections for pre-existing conditions, criminalizing reproductive healthcare, and attacks on essential health coverage like Medicaid," he noted.
"Mr. Kennedy's outlandish views on basic scientific facts are disturbing and should worry all parents who expect schools and other public spaces to be safe for their children," Wyden added. "When Mr. Kennedy comes before the Finance Committee, it's going to be very clear what Americans stand to lose under Trump and Republicans in Congress."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote on social media that "RFK Jr. poses a danger to public health, scientific research, medicine, and healthcare coverage for millions. He wants to stop parents from protecting their babies from measles and his ideas would welcome the return of polio. I have a lot of questions for his Senate hearing."
While Republicans are set to control Congress next year, Trump's controversial Cabinet picks have stoked fears that he will try to force through his allies with recess appointments, which don't require Senate confirmation.
If RFK Jr. makes it to HHS one way or another, critics are already preparing to challenge him. Center for Biological Diversity environmental health director Lori Ann Burd vowed that "we'll be joining with other organizations concerned with public health and the environment to ensure that Kennedy's dangerous anti-science agenda fails."
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Watchdog Launches 'War Room' to Monitor Trump's Corruption and Destruction
"Americans will know how the Trump administration and its allies are working for themselves, big corporations, and the wealthy, not the American people," said Accountable.US.
Nov 13, 2024
With the incoming Trump administration taking shape in recent days as President-elect Donald Trump has selected several of his political allies as members of his Cabinet, government watchdog Accountable.US on Wednesday announced its plan to monitor and demand accountability for corruption and abuses of power in the White House during the Republican's second term in office.
Accountable.US is a known entity to Trump allies, as ProPublicareported recently. Training videos for Project 2025, the far-right agenda co-authored by more than 100 former Trump staffers, showed conservative leaders warning potential future administration members to avoid leading a paper trail for the watchdog to follow.
"You're probably better off going down to the canteen, getting a cup of coffee, talking it through, and making the decision, as opposed to sending him an email and creating a thread that Accountable.US [...] is going to come back and seek," said one Project 2025 leader.
The group spent the first Trump administration exposing "swampy revolving-door Potomac politics" at the Interior Department, where lobbyist-turned-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt had "glaring conflicts of interest," and the Small Business Administration's decision to give $15.8 million in pandemic relief for struggling mom-and-pop businesses to police organizations, among other indiscretions.
Now, said Accountable.US president Caroline Ciccone, "Americans will know how the Trump administration and its allies are working for themselves, big corporations, and the wealthy, not the American people."
"With Trump and his MAGA allies set to implement their Project 2025 blueprint for the federal government, it is more critical than ever that the public is informed about who will lead these agencies and implement an extreme agenda that will hurt millions of Americans, devastate the economy, and undermine our democracy," said Ciccone.
The group's initiative, the Trump Accountability War Room, will provide analyses and oversight of Trump's staffing decisions and nominations, executive actions, and legislative agenda.
On Tuesday, Accountable.US drew attention to Trump's refusal to sign several ethics agreements with the Biden administration, as is required for the presidential transition.
"Everyone is surprised: Donald Trump is already in violation of federal law," said the group. "This time, it's an ethics code required for presidential transition that he signed into law. Donald Trump has made it clear—he does not think any law applies to him."
The organization has also called South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Trump's homeland security secretary pick, "uniquely unprepared and unqualified for the post," pointing to her alleged abuse of state resources for personal benefit and her fabrication of meetings with world leaders.
Along with Noem's nomination, Trump announced on Tuesday his appointment of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and enterpreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new "Department of Government Efficiency," an office tasked with eliminating "excess regulations" and restructuring federal agencies.
Scott Amey, general counsel for the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), another watchdog that has spent years exposing Trump's conflicts of interest, toldThe New York Times last week that "having a good friend in the White House could be a very good thing for Tesla and SpaceX."
"You have to worry about decisions that are not best for taxpayers when you have those kinds of cozy relationships," Amey said.
Musk's businesses are facing several criminal and civil investigations over alleged fraud, labor violations, and other accusations—and the election of Trump, whose campaign received nearly $120 million from the billionaire businessman, could result in little-to-no enforcement.
POGO executive director Danielle Brian said last week that the group "was created for exactly this moment."
"We're standing ready to hold this administration accountable for any such abuse of power," said Brian. "Because that's what POGO does. We work with policymakers to protect our democracy and we're not stopping now."
The Trump Accountability War Room, said Accountable.US, will "expose how Trump's new team—backed by Project 2025—plans to reshape America for their own gain, putting corporate interests over the rest of us."
"We won't let them dismantle our rights in the shadows," said the group.
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