REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) – President-elect Joe Biden’s election as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen raised more than $ 7 million in fees over the past two years from major financial companies and technology giants, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Google, according to the disclosure forms submitted as part of their nomination.
Yellen’s was among the three financial disclosures handed out by Biden transition officials, which were made public Thursday by the Government Ethics Office. In a separate file, Yellen listed companies and banks where he had received fees for speaking and said he intended to “request the written permission” of ethics officials to “participate personally and substantially” in matters that involved them.
Yellen was president of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018. President Donald Trump did not renew his term. He charged speech fees in 2019 and 2020.
His selection as Biden to head the Treasury Department has been hailed by progressive Democrats, who support Yellen’s work as a labor economist who has long prioritized the fight against economic inequality. Since his nomination was announced, Yellen has pledged to work to fight systemic racism and climate change.
But receiving heavy payments from Wall Street bankers and other powerful corporations could become a problem as their nomination paves the 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 rates on Wall Street companies.
A spokeswoman for Biden’s transition said Friday that since leaving the Fed, Yellen “has spoken at economic conferences, universities and business groups and financial institutions about her experiences and her views on what we can do as a country to build a stronger economy and increase our competitiveness “. He added that “this is not someone who can punch when it comes to bad actors or bad behavior.”
Forms of Biden’s option to be Secretary of State Antony Blinken were also released on Thursday, detailing his work at a co-founding consulting firm, WestExec Advisors, LLC. They show that Blinken received more than $ 1.1 million and that he signed an agreement, negotiated in October, to sell his stake in the firm, where he advised clients such as Bank of America and Facebook.
Avril Haines, Biden’s choice to be director of national intelligence, revealed he was a consultant for WestExec Advisors and earned about $ 55,000 in fees between October 2017 and last summer. In a separate letter to ethics officials, Haines vowed to resign for a year on issues related to WestExec and its other previous employers, including Columbia University, Syracuse University and the Brookings Institution think tank.
Some advocacy groups began warning just after election day that Biden, who was a Delaware senator for 36 years and served as vice president for two terms, could rely too heavily on officials with strong ties to past Democratic administrations. Many of those who left public sector jobs to work in the private sector and are now looking to return to government, raising concerns about the “revolving door” between politics and corporate and financial influence.
Biden, however, has largely dismissed these concerns, saying he is not afraid to rely on advisors with deep government experience. He pledged to bring together a cabinet well versed in the functioning of government and full of members from across the racial and ideological spectrum who seem diverse. country they had represented.
Biden’s transition team says it expects to announce more Council of Ministers selections next week, ahead of the opening day on January 20th. Among those positions that have yet to be filled is the selection of the president-elect for labor secretary and attorney general, an election that could be tricky. by federal prosecutors investigating the finances of Biden’s son, Hunter.