Donald Trump confirms exit from business to focus on presidency, Steven Mnuchin talks tax cuts for the rich
President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that he’s leaving his business empire to focus on being the nation’s 45th president, bowing to pressure to avoid potential conflicts of interest between governing and profiting in the private sector.
He said legal documents are “being crafted which take me completely out of business operations,” he added, saying the presidency is “a far more important task!”
Former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s former campaign finance director, confirmed that Trump has picked him as treasury secretary and that billionaire investor Wilbur Ross has been chosen for commerce secretary.
Mnuchin told CNBC on Wednesday there won’t be “tax cuts for the rich.”
“Any reductions we have in upper-income taxes will be offset by less deductions so that there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class,” Mnuchin said in an interview on “Squawk Box.”
Mnuchin rebutted a claim that parts of the middle class, especially single-parent households, may ultimately pay more under Trump’s new tax plan.
“When we work with Congress and go through this, it will be very clear. This is a middle-income tax cut. And the child care credit is a big aspect of this,” he said.
Mnuchin, 53, led Trump’s finance operations during the presidential campaign and became close to the president-elect and his family.