Treasury secretary’s wife apologizes for post, photo and response to person on Instagram
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s wife, Louise Linton, apologized Tuesday for boasting about her wealth and then disparaging someone who criticized her during a nasty social media exchange, trying to quell a raft of criticism about her insult-laced attack.
“I apologize for my post on social media yesterday as well as my response,” she is quoted as saying, according to a statement issued by her publicist. “It was inappropriate and highly insensitive.”
Linton, an actress and producer, married Mnuchin two months ago in a lavish ceremony that was attended by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. She often travels with Mnuchin on official business, which is not customary for the spouse of a Cabinet member, but Treasury Department officials have said the couple reimburse the government for the cost of her seat.
She drew attention, however, on Monday for posting a photograph of herself disembarking from a government plane with Mnuchin. In the Instagram post, she noted various fashion designers she was wearing at the time, including Hermes, Tom Ford and Valentino.
This drew an online comment from someone with the Instagram identity “Jennimiller29,” who wrote, “Glad we could pay for your little getaway.” Linton re- sponded to this with a fiery attack.
“Did you think this was a personal trip?!” Linton wrote on her Instagram page.
She added: “Adorable! Do you think the US govt paid for our honeymoon or personal travel?! Lololol. Have you given more to the economy than me and my husband? Either as an individual earner in taxes OR in self sacrifice to your country? I’m pretty sure we paid more taxes toward our day ‘trip’ than you did. Pretty sure the amount we sacrifice per year is a lot more than you’d be willing to sacrifice if the choice was yours.”
Linton added: “You’re adorably out of touch. … Thanks for the passive aggressive nasty comment. Your kids look very cute. Your life looks cute.”
Linton and Mnuchin recently returned from their honeymoon. Because Mnuchin is a Cabinet member, he would have had an extensive government security detail with him during the trip.