Even as the liberal Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank blasted President Obama’s Treasury Secretary Jack Lew for hypocrisy on his Cayman Islands investments and $950,000 Wall Street bonus, Buzzfeed is circling the wagons to defend Lew.
Treasury Secretary nominee Jack Lew, has answered more written questions than any every Treasury nominee since 1995 combined, a key sign of how hard Republicans in the Senate are pressing the current White House Chief of Staff in the run up to his confirmation fight.Lew has given Senators written responses to 444 questions submitted to him, whereas the previous six nominees answered a combined total of 405 questions.
But as Milbank points out, perhaps the reason Jack Lew is being asked so many questions is because he has much to answer for: Such as why it was okay for him to bag a $950,000 bonus just days after Citigroup landed billions in bailout dollars from taxpayers when Obama has denounced the practice. Or why it was fine for Jack Lew to invest $56,000 in a Citigroup venture-capital fund in the Cayman Islands registered to the exact location Obama said is “the largest tax scam in the world.” Or why, if Obama made attacking Gov. Mitt Romney’s Cayman Islands investments a core component of his campaign, he would nominate as his Treasury Secretary a man who, himself, held similar investments that he claims he didn’t know he held.
Lew’s questioning will end soon, however. A vote on his nomination is expected to come as early as next week.