Steve Mnuchin Flattered by ‘Bond Villain’ Comparisons

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Sunday said he was flattered when critics compared him and his wife to James Bond villains after a photo of them showing off newly printed dollar bills surfaced last week. “I never thought I’d be quoted as looking like villains from James Bond. I guess I should take that as a compliment that I look like a villain in a great, successful James Bond movie,” Mnuchin said Sunday in an interview on Fox News Sunday. Mnuchin said he was not aware the photo would be published but that he’d posed because he was “excited having my signature on the money” and he looks “forward to helping the American people.” The photo at the center of the controversy showed Mnuchin and his wife, Louise Linton, who was clad in long leather gloves and a black trench coat, holding up the currency during a visit to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington. Linton has previously stirred controversy with social-media posts in which critics say she flaunts her wealth, name-dropping expensive fashion designers during official trips with her husband.