Watch Kennedy’s questioning here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today questioned President Biden’s nominee for Comptroller of the Currency Saule Omarova on her membership in a communist organization and her radical views about regulating the economy and banking system.

Key excerpts include:   

Kennedy: “There was a group called the Young Communists, and you are a member, is that right?”

Omarova: “I’m not exactly sure which group you’re referring to.”

Kennedy: “Well, the formal name of it is the Leninist Communist Young Union of the Russian Federation, and it’s also known as the Leninist Komsomol of the Russian Federation. And it’s commonly referred to as the Young Communists. Were you a member?”

. . .

Kennedy: “Have you resigned?”

Omarova: “From the—”

Kennedy: “From the Young Communists.”

Omarova: “You grow out of it with age automatically.”

Kennedy: “Did you send them a letter though, resigning?”

Omarova: “Senator, this was many, many years ago. As far as I remember how the Soviet Union worked was at certain age, you automatically stop being—”

Kennedy: “Could you look at your records and see if you can find a copy?”

Background

• In a 2021 video, Omarova said: “We want [the fossil fuel industry] to go bankrupt if we want to tackle climate change.”
• In October 2020, Omarova wrote a paper titled “The People’s Ledger,” in which she proposes nationalizing the very industry she has been nominated to oversee. In this paper, Omarova proposes a plan to “effectively end banking as we know it.”
• In May 2019, Omarova praised the former Soviet Union, tweeting: “Say what you will about old USSR, there was no gender pay gap there. Market doesn't always ‘know best.’”
• In 2019, Omarova joined a “Marxist Analysis and Policy” Facebook group, which describes itself as a forum for a “diverse range of Socialist and anti-capitalist views.”

Watch the video of Kennedy’s questioning here.