could make a huge impact in this country. but isn t the issue that we keep going back to is that this administration, we re always questioning, are they putting their bids interests and self-dealing first. when i think about the financial crisis, whether i think tim geithner and hank paulison made the right decisions is neither here nor there. never during that time did i think, hmm, are they making these decisions because it s good for their personal business first? and that s where we are with this amazing program of opportunity zones, as i m going, i m sorry, what? williamsburg, brooklyn? the question about whether the president and people around him are enriching themselves through his service as president is not a speculative question. it s happening. the corruption is unspeakable. we are living in one of the most corrupt periods in the history of the country, which is saying something. it s extraordinary. and everywhere you look, you see corruption and the rage of the
the hotels, the apartment buildings, the commercial real estate. what s going to happen, though, is they will not divest him. a lot of people said, liquidate the assets, that s the only way you can do it. and what they ve decided right now, it could still change, hence the kids will do a press conference today. what they ve decided is, if they sell them, it will be a fire s.e.a. sale. how can we put these properties on the market. we would lose money. now they could bring lots of money. foreign entities and southern wealth funds would want to buy and curry favor with the trump administration. so as one senior person involved in the trump organization told me, we can t win at this point if we try to liquidate. there would also be big tax deducti deductions, i think, for him, if he did sell. because if you re selling in order to be in government, which is what hank paulison did. but also new reporting on ivanka trump? right, well, yesterday there were some people who thought
if we try to liquidate. there would also be big tax deductions, i think, for him, if he did sell. because if you re selling in order to be in government, which is what hank paulison did. but also new reporting on ivanka trump? right, well, yesterday there were some people who thought that it might be because ivanka trump does want to be involved in washington with her father, as will jared kushner, who became one of his closest advisers and will likely take a formal role. ivanka wants to have an informal role in the white house. so there was some talk yesterday that she may take the first lady s office in the east wing. as that became more official, perhaps, or more discussed, she didn t like that at all. first of all, she doesn t perceive herself and is not at all, a social-type person. she wants to advise on substantiative issues, like paid family leave. she wants to be in the west wing, where the action is, not the east wing. that s the first thing.
consideration. now, steve liesman, let s drill down on steve mnuchin and wilbur ross both were on cnbc today. let s talk about mnuchin first as treasury secretary. if you had to look at the universe of people, like a bob ruben, hank paulison, tim geithner, men from wall street who successfully dealt with crises and could deal with the heads of the various big investment banks, steve mnuchin that guy? you know, it s a good question, andrea. i would say that initially, i don t know that any one of these people who became well known and did well in their jobs, it was obvious ahead of time that they would be so successful or do quite as well as they did. i think what s important here from the get-go is that steve mnuchin is a close confidant of the president-elect. i think that s probably ciritera number one for being a successful treasury secretary, especially if economic policy making is going to remain inside the treasury and not get
members of congress have to go back to their constituents and say i voted for limited strikes. even if you look at nancy pelosi and harry reid they talk about limited strikes. the president talks about limited duration. that s going to be in that draft. going to be in that drft. how is it going to work in terms of who introduces it in the house? i think it s going to be a similar process to what happened on t.a.r.p. if you remember hank paulison secretary treasury said i get to spend $100 billion any way i please. members of congress laughed him out of the room. there were negotiations, late night negotiations on a weekend, the bipartisan leadership got together, what is the language going to be. you re not going to have three or four votes on this. you have one shot. it will be a bipartisan crafted resolution, you think? no question. they need poth parties involved, the leadership involved.