Disclosures: Yellen made over $7million in speaking fees
REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. — President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to be treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, collected more than $7million in speaking fees over the past two years from major financial companies and tech giants including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Google, disclosure forms filed as part of her nomination indicate.
Yellen’s was among three financial disclosures turned in by Biden transition officials that weremade public Thursday by the Office of Government Ethics.
In a separate filing, Yellen listed companies and banks from which she had received speaking fees and said she intended to “seek written authorization” from ethics officials to “participate personally and substantially” in matters involving them.
Yellen was Federal Reserve chairwoman from 2014 to 2018. Her term was not renewed by President Donald Trump. She took in the speaking fees in 2019 and 2020.
Her selection by Biden to lead the Treasury Department has been cheered by progressive Democrats, who support Yellen’s work as a labor economist who long has prioritized combating economic inequality.
Since her nomination was announced, Yellen has pledged to work to fight systemic racism and climate change. But receiving steep payments from Wall Street bankers and other powerful corporations could become an issue as her nomination works its way through a closely divided Senate.
Hillary Clinton faced criticism fromthe left wing of the Democratic Party while running for president in 2016 for having received lucrative speaking fees at Wall Street companies.
A Biden transition spokesperson said Friday that Yellen, since leaving the Fed, has “spoken at economic conferences, universities and to business groups and financial institutions about her experiences and her views on what we can do as a country to build a stronger economy and increase our competitiveness.”
He added that “this is not someone who pulls punches when it comes to bad actors or bad behavior.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., ranking member of the chamber’s Finance Committee, said he expects Yellen’s nomination to “move forward quickly, with her hearing held before Inauguration Day,” which is Jan. 20.
“In the last few years, she has shared her views in a range of forums — congressional testimony, media interviews, speaking engagements and opinion pieces,”
Wyden said in a statement. “She’s been fully transparent.”
Also released Thursday were disclosure forms from Biden’s choice to be secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who detailed his work at a consulting company he co-founded, West Exec Advisors LLC.
They show that Blinken was paid more than $1.1million and has entered into an agreement, negotiated in October, to sell his equity interest in the company, where he advised clients including Bank of America and Facebook.
Avril Haines, Biden’s choice to be national intelligence director,
disclosed being a consultant at West Exec Advisors and collecting about $55,000in fees between October 2017 and last summer.
In a separate letter to ethics officials, Haines promised to recuse herself for one year in issues involving West Exec as well as her other past employers, including Columbia University, Syracuse University and the Brookings Institution think tank.
Some advocacy groups began warning just after Election Day that Biden, who was a senator from Delaware for 36 years and served as vice president for two terms, could rely too heavily on officials with strong ties to past Democratic administrations. Many of those left public sector posts for jobs in the private sector and now are seeking to return to government, raising concerns about the “revolving door” between policy and corporate and financial influence.
Biden, however, largely has shrugged off such concerns, saying he’s not afraid to rely on advisers with deep governmental experience.
He’s pledged to assemble a Cabinet well versed in the workings of government and full of members from across the racial and ideological spectrum who look like the diverse country they will represent.
The transition spokesperson said Biden’s incoming administration is committed to “restoring trust in government by establishing an administration of the highest ethical standards.” The person called the release of financial disclosures “merely one step in the process of ensuring the highest degrees of transparency and ethics.”
Biden’s transition team says it expects to announce more Cabinet picks next week. Among those positions yet to be filled are the president-elect’s selection for labor secretary and attorney general — a choice that could be complicated by federal prosecutors investigating the finances of Biden’s son Hunter.