‘I’m sure people will be very happy to get a big, fat, beautiful check, and my name is on it…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called the decision to put President Donald Trump’s name on coronavirus relief checks a “terrific symbol to the American public” while defending it to media.
“That was my idea,” Mnuchin told CNN, disputing reports that Trump had been the one to demand the change.
When asked why the physical checks would bear Trump’s name, Mnuchin said: “He is the president.”
The Washington Post reported last week that Trump had privately requested that his name be included on the stimulus checks, which Americans will receive in the mail within the next couple of weeks, according to Mnuchin. But Mnuchin pushed back on this report and said Trump had nothing to do with it.
The president has confirmed this account, as well. Earlier this month, he was asked whether he’d like to sign the stimulus checks being sent to Americans.
“Me sign? No,” Trump responded. “There’s millions of checks. I’m going to sign them? No. It’s a Trump administration initiative, but do I want to sign them? No.”
The Post also claimed that adding Trump’s name to the checks resulted in a delay.
However, Treasury Department spokeswoman Monica Crowley denied this.
Treasury spokesperson response to last night’s inaccurate and misleading Washington Post story: pic.twitter.com/5K7SNa6PFC
— Monica Crowley (@TreasurySpox) April 15, 2020
The checks “are scheduled to go out on time and exactly as planned,” she said, slamming the Post’s report as “inaccurate and misleading.”
Trump said last week that he doesn’t know “too much about” the decision to include his name on the checks, and noted that the American public likely doesn’t care, either.
“I do understand it’s not delaying anything, and I’m satisfied with that. I don’t imagine it’s a big deal,” he said during a press briefing last week. “I’m sure people will be very happy to get a big, fat, beautiful check, and my name is on it.”