In an interview with Fox Business Network on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen answered questions about a House Judiciary Committee report in which the Treasury Department issued a warning over a report linking some conservative groups to hate groups. “I am not aware of such a thing,” he said. thing. “
asked Fox Business White House correspondent Edward Lawrence. [relevant exchange begins around 4:20] “So, FinCEN, I would like to ask you about that. I know that a program was launched under the Trump administration that asked banks to scan certain words. Are you asking me to scan for conditions?”
Yellen said, “Well, what FinCEN does is work with financial institutions to help them meet their reporting requirements. Banks are required to report suspicious transactions, and they are required to identify Although it is not mandatory to scan for words, we are proposing ways to work with banks to potentially detect fraudulent payments, and that’s what we aim to do. It is the bank’s responsibility to report this, and there is no need to scan for specific words.”
Lawrence then asked, “Did you know that there’s a list of words like GoFundMe and Eventbrite?”
Yellen replied: “I certainly don’t know anything.”
Lawrence then asked:[T]The House Judiciary Committee released a report showing that the Treasury Department sent a third-party report linking some conservative groups to hate groups. I think it’s because the Ministry of Finance passed on that report. How would you respond? ”
Yellen responded, “I am not aware of any such thing.”
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