Psaki Dodges Question On Treasury Secretary Recusing From Robinhood Debacle

Press Secretary Jen Psaki dodged a question today on whether or not the newly sworn-in Treasury Secretary would recuse herself from the Robinhood debacle, after reports of her connections to the company.

Janet Yellen was given $810,000 for speaking fees during 2019-2020 from Citadel and other hedge funds. Citadel is a hedge fund owned by Ken Griffin, a major GOP donor.

Citadel was one of several firms that collectively paid Robinhood almost $100 million in the first quarter of 2020, Fortune reports.

Great question from Nandita Bose of Reuters to Psaki if Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen would recuse herself from discussions about #RobinHood seeing has how she’s given paid speeches to the hedge fund Citadel. Psaki dodges b/c Yellen is “one of the world renowned experts on markets” pic.twitter.com/3paPVMv846

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 28, 2021

Citadel helped bail out Melvin Capital after Melvin’s heavy losses following the GME and AMC stock surge, sustained by short-selling Gamestop and AMC, according to Yahoo Finance.

Robinhood halted the ability for users to buy Gamestop or AMC, giving investors only the option to sell on Jan. 28.

Nandita Bose at Reuters asked Psaki if Yellen’s connections to Robinhood would cause Yellen to recuse herself from the administration’s response. Psaki said the Biden administration has a broad economic team and that the SEC put out a statement.

“I don’t think I have anything more for you,” she added.

Psaki also mentioned Yellen was paid speaking fees for being “one of the world-renowned experts on markets.”