PRESS RELEASE
Spicer Affirms Trump Support for Glass-Steagall
March 9, 2017 (EIRNS)—This was the full exchange on Glass-Steagall between President Trump’s spokesman Sean Spicer and John Gizzi of Newsmax at the White House press briefing today:
Q: All right, thank you. Going back to the meeting and to your opening statement about the banks, in the last campaign, candidate Trump campaigned hard on restoring the Glass-Steagall Act, which would put a barrier between commercial and major investment banks. It, of course, was repealed in 1999—the repeal signed by President Clinton. Senator Sanders campaigned on this as well, noted that it was in the Republican platform in Cleveland, and said in December he’d be happy to work with the Trump administration on restoring Glass-Steagall. Is there any plans for the President to meet with Senator Sanders? And is repeal of Glass-Steagall on his agenda?
SPICER: There’s no current schedule to meet with him. I’m sure that, as he has done with several other members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, that at some point, that will be scheduled. But we don’t have anything on the books for now. But look, he’s shown—and I think today was another—or yesterday was another example, today another example of his willingness to reach across the aisle, his willingness to look into both chambers and not just business but labor unions and other industries where we can find common ground. And I think if Senator Sanders and others want to work with the White House on areas of ways that we can improve the financial industry, we’re going to do that.
Q: Are you still committed to restoring Glass-Steagall?
SPICER: Yes. The statement was reported on many news sites and blogs, including the Financial Times and Zerohedge. Just saying “yes” went a long way. An article on Investment World Blog claimed that “Wall Street stocks plunged” after hearing about the news.They wrote,
“Trump recently pledged to ‘do a big number’ on the Wall Street reform law known as Dodd-Frank, and now spokesman Spicer has confirmed Trump is also committed to honoring his pre-election pledge to bring back Glass-Steagall.”
It is worthy of note that on the same day, President Trump met with a number of independent community bankers; this group has previously gone on record in favor of restoring Glass-Steagall, since the repeal has been a bonanza for the Wall Street behemoths, at their expense.
