The Senate has approved President Joe Biden’s choice to lead a key agency overseeing Wall Street.

He was asked about the roiling stock-trading drama involving GameStop shares that has spurred clamor for tighter regulation of Wall Street. The GameStop episode prompted lawmakers to raise concern about the business model of Robinhood, the online trading platform that hosted a wave of trading in GameStop. If confirmed to the SEC post, Gensler said, he would work to strengthen transparency and accountability in the markets. Biden’s selection of Gensler to lead the SEC signals a goal of turning the Wall Street watchdog agency toward an activist role after a deregulatory stretch during the Trump administration. The GameStop episode has bolstered political momentum toward tighter regulation of the securities markets, though Republican lawmakers and regulators generally will oppose new rules.

The SEC took a deregulatory tilt under chair Jay Clayton, a former Wall Street lawyer appointed by President Donald Trump. The populist strain recalls the anger fueling the Occupy Wall Street movement over the big bank bailouts that Congress brought in response to the financial crisis. At least two of them have closed out January's trading with losses of more than 40%, according to reports by The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News. Politicians and critics said Robinhood changed the rules of the road midway through, in favor of Wall Street firms who were still able to trade these shares. Wall Street brokerages, big banks and other financial companies were already expecting the Biden administration to be tougher on them than the Trump regime.

Clayton, a former Wall Street lawyer who has headed the Securities and Exchange Commission as the financial markets top regulator during the Trump administration, is leaving the position at years end. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)WASHINGTON – Jay Clayton, a former Wall Street lawyer who has headed the Securities and Exchange Commission as the financial markets’ top regulator during the Trump administration, is leaving the position at year’s end, the SEC announced Monday. One of President Donald Trump’s earliest appointments in 2017, Clayton has presided over a deregulatory push to soften rules affecting Wall Street and the financial markets, as Trump pledged when he took office. Before his appointment, Clayton was a partner in the prominent law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, where he did significant legal work for Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs and other financial giants. That background led several Democratic senators to seek assurances from Clayton regarding potential conflicts of interest during his confirmation process.

WASHINGTON The ousted former U.S. attorney for Manhattan will sit down with the House Judiciary Committee next week for a closed-door interview as the panel investigates politicization in the Justice Department. Berman left his job last month after an extraordinary standoff in which he refused to resign until Trump himself fired him. Attorney General William Barr had attempted to force him to resign under pressure, but he refused to go. The Judiciary Committee is investigating the politicization and is scheduled to hear from Barr himself at the end of the month. The White House nominated Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton, a well-connected Wall Street lawyer with virtually no experience as a federal prosecutor, to replace Berman.

(Brendan Smialowski/Pool via AP)WASHINGTON President Donald Trumps pick to be the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan won't say whether he would withdraw from overseeing matters related to Trump in his current job, as Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, or if confirmed as U.S. attorney. Under questioning from Democrats, Clayton pledged to be independent as U.S. attorney but would not commit to stepping aside from matters related to Trump or his associates. Clayton would not say whether he had talked to anyone at Trumps organization or in his family about the nomination. Under her questioning, Clayton declined to say whether he had approached Trump and Barr about the job or whether they had approached him. But those Democrats have already rejected the nomination and say Clayton should withdraw.

And he had refused to even alert Washington to cases his high-profile department was working on. He was never formally nominated to the post by Trump, despite having been personally interviewed for the job by the president. He eventually consented to leave after Barr said Trump had officially fired him and the second in command of the office would take over. The message to the public from New York Citys government appears to favor certain secular gatherings and disfavor religious gatherings, wrote Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband. Justice Department officials insisted the de Blasio letter played no role and Barr didn't know about Berman's refusal to sign it when he sent out the statement.

The Justice Department moved abruptly Friday, June 19, 2020, to oust Berman, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan overseeing key prosecutions of President Donald Trumps allies and an investigation of his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. His statement came hours after Attorney General William Barr said Berman was stepping down from his position. The standoff set off an extraordinary clash between the Justice Department and one of the nations top districts, which has tried major mob and terror cases over the years. Democrats have repeatedly accused Trump's Justice Department of political interference, and those concerns have also been pervasive among some rank and file officials in the agency. But as U.S. attorney, he won over some skeptics after he went after Trump allies, and had a direct hand in other investigations that have angered the president.