Former Thief Nominated to Treasury Department

By: John Semmens

Saule Omarova, President Biden’s nominee to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, is having her fitness for the office questioned by GOP Senators. On the one hand, there was her “we want them to go bankrupt” comment about the the oil and gas industry in the U.S. Or maybe it's her membership in the Facebook group “Marxist Analysis and Policy,” which describes itself as “for socialism and against capitalism.” Or perhaps it was her arrest for shoplifting in 1995.

Presidential Press Secretary Jen Psaki defended Omarova, saying that “the President has full confidence in this nomination. Professor Omarova adds a new progressive twist to the concept of banking and challenges the notion that an impartial treatment of all customers should be free of political biases or tests. Both she and the President believe that government should inject its preferences into financial decisions regarding who does and doesn't receive loans, who is and isn't allowed to have an account, and whether the nation would be better served by confiscating assets that could be put to better use by the government. These issues will make up the core of her responsibilities as Comptroller of the Currency.”

Psaki scoffed at “the quaint idea that her shoplifting escapade in 1995 is even an issue. Events of the past year and new laws decriminalizing shoplifting in many jurisdiction demonstrate that public attitudes towards property are undergoing a transformation that is in tune with the basic gist of the President's Build Back Better initiative. Dr. Omarova's personal effort to pioneer this concept at TJ MAXX 25 years ago evidences a foresight and leadership that make her well-suited to the job he wants her to do.”