Goldmans Sachs has said that “Donald Trump’s plan would make the economy worse,” Vice President Kamala Harris claimed during her recent presidential debate against Donald Trump.  Harris’s embrace of Goldman Sachs, and vice versa, didn’t arise out of a vacuum, industry sources told the Washington Reporter.

A House Republican operative noted to the Reporter that “Goldman Sachs has carried water for Kamala Harris, who has destroyed our economy and caused 40 year high inflation. Not to mention, it continues to push radical ESG policies. Republicans do not trust Goldman Sachs. Period.”

David Solomon, Goldman’s CEO, pushed back on Harris’s claim after the debate, saying that “the difference between the sets of policies that they’ve put forward is about two-tenths of 1 percent.”

The firm nevertheless released estimates shortly before the debate claiming that unified Democratic Party control would be the best for the economy. Despite Harris’s embrace of price controls, she has seen a surge in contributions from Wall Street executives with ties to firms like Goldman Sachs; Robert Rubin, its former chairman, endorsed Harris earlier this year. 

Goldman Sachs employees have also supported Republicans like Dave McCormick — himself the former CEO of Bridgewater Associates — but the group’s cheerleading for Harris follows a series of scathing criticisms levied at it by Republicans in Congress, over issues ranging from ESG investment to guns and more. 

The backlash on the right to Goldman Sachs was swift and, according to the Reporter’s sources on the Hill, will be lasting. 

“Kamala can cite liberals from Goldman Sachs who preposterously claim her disastrous policies work,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) said at the time. “But Trump can cite his record of peace and prosperity.

The next Congress will also see new members of Congress, like West Virginia’s Riley Moore, the state’s treasurer, come into office with a long track record of pushing back against Goldman Sachs specifically. Moore barred financial institutions like Goldman Sachs from doing business with his state because of their hostility to the coal industry. 

A Senate Republican Judiciary Staffer told the Reporter that “Goldman Sachs has embraced Kamala Harris and thought Republicans wouldn’t notice. They’d better hope Republicans don’t take the majority.”