Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin wouldn’t say Thursday if he will commit to his predecessor Jack Lew’s plan to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill in place of Andrew Jackson.
"Ultimately we will be looking at this issue. It's not something I'm focused on at the moment," Mnuchin told CNBC.
"The No. 1 issue why we change the currency is to stop counterfeiting,” he added. “So the issues of what we change will be primarily related to what we need to do for security purposes. I've received classified briefings on that. And that's what I'm focused on for the most part."
"People have been on the bills for a long period of time,” he said. “And this is something we will consider. Right now, we've got a lot more important issues to focus on."
President Trump is an admirer of Andrew Jackson and told the Today show last year that while he thought Harriet Tubman was “fantastic,” he would “love to leave Andrew Jackson and see if we can maybe come up with another denomination. Maybe we do the $2 bill or we do another bill."
"I don't like seeing it,” he said of the Obama-era decision to replace Jackson. “Yes, I think it's pure political correctness. Been on the bill [Jackson] for many, many years. And, you know, really represented somebody that really was very important to this country.”
Many on Twitter interpreted Mnuchin’s response as an indication that the Treasury Secretary may not put Harriet Tubman on currency.
The Obama-era plan to replace Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill may be nixed under Trump.https://t.co/AKCT1POxZ2
— Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) August 31, 2017
The Trump administration is so threatened by the existence of women & people of color, they can't even acknowledge Harriet Tubman on the $20 https://t.co/JEQHhKSTFo
— NARAL (@NARAL) August 31, 2017
Hope Sec. Mnuchin visits the #HarrietTubman Underground Railroad Center to learn, well, clearly a lot... It's a ~2 hr drive from his office. https://t.co/Z9pR6kQwPR
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) August 31, 2017
The chance that Harriet Tubman is put on the $20 while Donald Trump is president is exactly zero, IMO. https://t.co/CKCyJN0Bvc
— Angus Johnston (@studentactivism) August 31, 2017
You know who there should be statues of around the country? Harriet Tubman. And she should replace the genocidal Andrew Jackson on the $20. https://t.co/96PWIyP5O3
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) August 31, 2017
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