Treasury Said He Would Be Acting Secretary on January 20 — Then Leave

DOCUMENTED

United States Treasury Building in Washington, D.C.

United States Treasury Building, Washington, D.C. MeanieHyaena, 24 July 2015. CC BY 4.0.

On January 19, 2017, Treasury posted a spokesperson statement (jl0713): “To ensure the smooth continuity of leadership at the Department of the Treasury, Acting Under Secretary Adam Szubin will serve as Acting Secretary of the Treasury, effective January 20, 2017. He will serve in that capacity until a new Secretary is confirmed and in place. At that point, Mr. Szubin will leave government service to pursue other endeavors.”

That is a contemporaneous Treasury.gov release. The research file flagged the acting-secretary line as a firm/university claim until a Treasury succession notice was found. This page treats jl0713 as that primary. It does not invent the last calendar day he physically left the building. It does not invent a Senate confirmation he never received.

Acting secretary is a continuity title. It is not a confirmed appointment as Secretary of the Treasury.

Sources

U.S. Department of the Treasury, spokesperson statement, Jan. 19, 2017. home.treasury.gov

Opinion

The following is commentary by this site. It is not a finding of fact and not a legal conclusion.

Compiler take

Acting secretary for the handoff. The same statement schedules the exit. Continuity, then out. Not a cabinet confirmation. Not a MAGA conversion.