Trump selects SEC chief

Longtime Wall Street lawyer chosen to head financial enforcement agency.

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday chose a Wall Street attorney with experience in corporate mergers and public stock launches as his nominee to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Trump announced his nomination of Jay Clayton, a partner in the law firm Sullivan and Cromwell, as chairman of the independent agency that oversees Wall Street and the financial markets.

If confirmed by the Senate, his responsibilities will include enforcing the scores of rules already written by the agency under the 2010 law that reshaped financial regulation after the 200809 crisis.

The law, known as DoddFrank, has long been scorned by Republicans and is high on Trump’s target list.

Clayton has worked on many of the securities deals that the SEC regulates and has represented Wall Street powerhouses including Goldman Sachs and Barclays.

He is the latest Trump choice with Wall Street connections. His nominee for Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, is a former Goldman executive. Trump also has tapped Gary Cohn, until recently Goldman’s president, to be his top economic adviser, and billionaire investor Wilbur Ross to head the Commerce Department.

Clayton would succeed Mary Jo White, a former federal prosecutor who also had worked as a corporate attorney before being named SEC chair by President Barack Obama.

In announcing the appointment, Trump’s transition team said Clayton will encourage investment, “while providing strong oversight of Wall Street and related industries.”

But some key Democrats were unimpressed with the choice of Clayton.

“It’s hard to see how an attorney who’s spent his career helping Wall Street beat the rap will keep President-elect Trump’s promise to stop big banks and hedge funds from ‘getting away with murder,’ ” said Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the senior Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee. The committee, with a Republican majority, will conduct Clayton’s confirmation hearing.

Also Wednesday, Rex Tillerson will get a $180 million retirement package from Exxon Mobil if he is confirmed as Trump’s secretary of state. Tillerson will give up more than 2 million Exxon shares he would have received over the next 10 years.