Trump’s Pick for SEC Chair to Meet with Senate Panel
Wall Street Lawyer Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, is scheduled to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on March 23rd for his confirmation hearing.
Clayton is a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell and has represented numerous financial clients including Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, UBS Securities, Royal Bank of Canada, Pershing Square and others.
According to an agreement filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics on Wednesday, if confirmed, Clayton will recuse himself for one year from matters involving his law firm. In addition, he plans to recuse himself from matters involving former clients for a period of one year after he last provided them legal services.
Within 90 days of the potential confirmation, Clayton plans to resign from various trustee positions and will divest from 176 financial assets that were listed at the end of the document and purportedly worth millions. Clayton’s wife, Gretchen Butler Clayton, also plans to resign from her role as a financial advisor at Goldman Sachs and will divest all of her financial interests in the firm as well.
The SEC has five commissioners who are appointed by the president and no more than three may belong to the same political party. The Commission currently has two members, Democrat Kara Stein and Republican Michael Piwowar – who currently serves as its acting chair.
If confirmed, Clayton will succeed Mary Jo White, who stepped down from her post in January at the end of the Obama administration.
