Steve Mnuchin is viewed as less protectionist than President Donald Trump and some other West Wing advisers including Stephen Bannon. | Getty Images Mnuchin looks to Wall Street to fill key Treasury roles

NEW YORK -- Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin, likely to be confirmed by the Senate on Monday, is reaching into the Republican establishment and Wall Street to fill out senior leadership roles in his department.

Senior Goldman Sachs banker Jim Donovan is under strong consideration for deputy Treasury secretary and could serve as Mnuchin’s No. 2 if confirmed by the Senate, people familiar with the matter said. Justin Muzinich, a former Morgan Stanley banker now at Muzinich, is likely to take a senior position possibly as undersecretary for domestic finance or counselor, the people said. The counselor position would not require Senate confirmation.


Economist David Malpass, a veteran of the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, is expected to be nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as undersecretary for international affairs.

A White House spokesperson and a spokesperson for Mnuchin did not immediately return requests for comment on Sunday night. None of the selections are final.

The trio would round out the top level at Treasury, which has been operating for weeks with limited staff including Adam Szubin, an Obama and George W. Bush administration holdover, as acting secretary.

All three are well-known on Wall Street and in Washington. Malpass, who was an economic adviser to Trump during the 2016 campaign, also served as chief economist at Bear Stearns.

Donovan, a Goldman partner and managing director, is close to Mitt Romney and served as one of the 2012 GOP nominee’s top fundraisers. He was also a top fundraiser and economic adviser for Jeb Bush in the 2016 campaign. He joined Goldman in 1993 and covered major clients in both investment banking and investment management. He made partner in 2000 and worked with then co-presidents John Thain and John Thornton on broader strategy for Goldman as a whole.

For the past eight years, Donovan has also served as a professor of corporate strategy at the University of Virginia law school.

Donovan would be the latest Goldman alum to join a Trump White House team that already includes several former executives of the bank including Mnuchin, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn and senior Trump advisers Dina Powell and Stephen Bannon.

The selection of Donovan, Muzinich and Malpass for the high-profile Treasury positions will likely draw fresh criticism from the left — and some on the populist right — because of their association with Wall Street.

Trump regularly criticized the financial industry during his populist run to the White House, singling out Goldman for specific criticisms. Trump’s final ad of the campaign portrayed Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein as a sinister force of globalism. He criticized Ted Cruz’s wife for her work at Goldman and his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, for her paid speeches to the powerhouse Wall Street bank.

But for corporate executives and investors worried about the erratic nature of the Trump White House and the president’s inclination toward protectionism and a harsh approach to immigration, all three selections are likely to be viewed with relief. Both Malpass and Muzinich, who served as a top policy adviser to Jeb Bush’s campaign, are well known both on Wall Street and among establishment Republicans in Washington.

The Treasury Department is likely to play a key role as Trump develops a corporate and individual tax reform package with Republicans in Congress. Treasury also handles economic sanctions and currency issues and works with other departments on trade initiatives that are central to Trump’s presidency.

Mnuchin is viewed as less protectionist than Trump and some other West Wing advisers including Bannon. He and Cohn both come from more internationalist and trade-friendly backgrounds. The hope among many CEOs and financial industry executives is that they will help steer Trump away from trade wars while helping implement a policy of tax cuts, infrastructure investment and reduced regulations that could boost economic growth and continue a stock market rally that began following Trump’s election.