First on CNN: Treasury secretary nominee's foreign money links bring new scrutiny

By Phil Mattingly, CNN
Updated 2108 GMT (0508 HKT) January 31, 2017

Washington (CNN) - Senate Democrats are raising questions about whether Steve Mnuchin, President Donald Trump's treasury secretary nominee, deliberately misled lawmakers at his confirmation hearing.

The concerns center on the extent of foreign investment in a series of finance entities Mnuchin helped manage, including one based offshore in the Cayman Islands, aides tell CNN.

It's an issue -- which Democratic aides and lawmakers say hasn't been addressed in subsequent follow-up questions in the weeks since -- that has raised concern about the extent of the influence those investors may hold, and the potential for conflicts of interest not unlike what has tailed Trump throughout his campaign. On its face, it echoes a prime point of contention for Democrats probing all of Trump's Cabinet picks, many of whom boast extensive private business and finance ties.

But Mnuchin is slated to be the Trump Administration's top economic official, making those ties even more susceptible to potential conflicts, aides say -- the types of potential conflicts Mnuchin himself appeared to draw attention to inadvertently during his confirmation hearing.

The focus has trained on a series of finance entities, all offshoots of the hedge fund run by Mnuchin up until he was selected as Trump's pick to be the country's economic point person.

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