Trump Seeks Perfect Treasury Candidate as Search Drags On

He instead invested millions into congressional Republicans. In 2020, he donated to Trump, but in 2016 Rowan contributed to Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party.

“I don’t know how you pick a private equity guy, given all the damage private equity has done to workers in this country, how someone at Apollo is even on the shortlist,” Steve Bannon, a close Trump ally, said on his War Room podcast Thursday.

“Rowan is a very smart guy — some people may even say he’s brilliant, right?,” Bannon said. “But I don’t think he understands MAGA.”

The prolonged process, relative to Trump’s other top picks so far, opens up the possibility that the president-elect, known to be impulsive in spurts, could just land on a name that has so far not been floated publicly.

That’s what happened with his selection for attorney general.

Trump was not enthralled with the candidates he personally interviewed, so then-Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida made a persuasive case for the job on a flight from Palm Beach to Washington and landed it, much to the surprise of his colleagues on Capitol Hill and even some of Trump’s top aides.

Gaetz — the subject of a long-running inquiry over allegations that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl in exchange for money, took illicit drugs, and accepted improper gifts — could face a steep climb to confirmation even with a Republican-controlled Senate. He has denied wrongdoing.

But that Trump would even consider him for his cabinet underscores the extent to which he emphasizes disruption in naming the leaders of his incoming administration, those familiar with the process say.

That’s led to selections that have fanned consternation across Washington before what could be tough confirmation battles for Gaetz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, and Fox News host Pete Hegseth, whom the president-elect chose as secretary of Defense.

Trump has relished the response to his choices of celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz to head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, former Republican congressman and reality television star Sean Duffy to lead the Department of Transportation and former Democratic congresswoman-turned-Fox News pundit Tulsi Gabbard as the director of National Intelligence.

Public Battle

Trump has also frowned at public lobbying for the role. Cantor Fitzgerald Chief Executive Officer Howard Lutnick, who is running Trump’s transition and who sought the Treasury job, was instead named to lead the Commerce Department after Trump soured on his effort to secure public backing from allies for the role, people familiar with the matter have said.

Some Trump allies and advisers have tried to make the case that Trump should select a Treasury secretary soon to send a signal to Wall Street that all will be well and calm. But others on his team feel he has a mandate to operate in an unconventional style that suits him.

David Wessel, the director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution, said “people on Wall Street, in the business community and in governments around the world are hoping that the Treasury secretary will be a conventional Republican pick.”

“If Trump chooses somebody really outside the box, that’s going to frighten people,” he added. “When you are the world’s largest debtor, you want to be careful about who you pick to be the chief bond salesman for the US government.”

Trump may also be weighing whether contenders for the Treasury post could be interested in other economic positions in his administration. The president-elect has still not announced his choices for US Trade Representative, Labor secretary, Small Business administrator, or the head of his Council of Economic Advisers.