by Harry Wilmerding
Key Democrat Senators reportedly said they would oppose President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Democratic Sens. Jon Tester of Montana, Mark Warner of Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Jon Hickenlooper of Colorado and Mark Kelly of Arizona told the White House they would not support Saule Omarova’s nomination to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, according to Axios.
Without the support of all 50 Senate Democrats, it would be almost impossible for Omarova to be confirmed. The White House said Wednesday it would continue to support the nominee amid growing concerns from key Senate Democrats saying the criticism resembles that of the McCarthy era.
“The White House continues to strongly support her historic nomination,” a White House official told Axios.
“Saule Omarova is eminently qualified for this position,” the official added. “She has been treated unfairly since her nomination with unacceptable red-baiting from Republicans like it’s the McCarthy era.”
Saule Omarova was born in the Soviet Union and attended Moscow State University, where she wrote a senior thesis titled “Karl Marx’s Economic Analysis and the Theory of Revolution in the Capital.”
She called the financial services sector a “quintessential asshole industry” and has been on record saying she wants to “end banking as we know it” by advocating for private bank accounts administered by the Federal Reserve.
In a book titled “The Seven Sins of Wall Street: Big Banks, Their Washington Lackeys, and the Next Financial Crisis,” Omarova was quoted praising Marxist policies, saying they changed her world view, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported.
Omarova, a law professor at Cornell, was slammed by Senate Republicans during her confirmation hearing on Nov. 19.
Saule Omarova is a Marxist who robbed a T.J. Maxx. She has no management experience and is unfit to be the Comptroller of the Currency.
President Biden should immediately withdraw her nomination.
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) November 25, 2021
Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy blasted Omarova during her hearing when pressed about her ties to Marxism and communist-related youth groups, saying, “I don’t know whether to call you professor or comrade.”
Omarova responded to Kennedy’s remarks, saying she is not a communist.
“Senator, I am not a communist, I do not subscribe to that ideology, I could not choose where I was born, I do not remember joining any Facebook group that subscribes to that ideology, I would never knowingly join any such group,” Omarova said responding to Kennedy.
Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio called Biden’s nominee a flat-out “communist” after the hearing concluded.
“Saule Omarova supports abolishing private bank accounts, using govt to bankrupt energy companies & creating a Soviet-style ‘National Investment Authority,” Rubio tweeted.
“She supports communist policies & a communist should not be our Comptroller of the Currency,” Rubio added.
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Harry Wilmerding is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Saule Omarova” by Fox Business.
