--- title: Steven Mnuchin Had No Idea Money Sheet Photo Would Go Viral description: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday that he did not realize that the photo of him and his wife, Louise Linton, would go viral. canonical: https://time.com/5031393/steven-mnuchin-money-sheet-viral/ author: Tara John article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-20T13:34:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:56.512Z article:section: Politics og:title: Steven Mnuchin Had No Idea 'Bond Villain' Pic Would Go Viral og:description: "I didn't realize that the pictures were public" og:url: https://time.com/5031393/steven-mnuchin-money-sheet-viral/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc73459a50a6b2bcf/6988e672ab6d775db96b0b21/shutterstock_editorial_9224878a_huge.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4021 og:image:height: 2262 og:image:alt: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, right, and his wife Louise Linton, hold up a sheet of new $1 bills, the first currency notes bearing his and U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza's signatures, in Washington on Nov. 15. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Steven Mnuchin Had No Idea 'Bond Villain' Pic Would Go Viral twitter:description: "I didn't realize that the pictures were public" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc73459a50a6b2bcf/6988e672ab6d775db96b0b21/shutterstock_editorial_9224878a_huge.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Had No Idea 'Bond Villain' Photo With Money Would Go Viral > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=69ef310a-fa27-47e7-8f49-eda43e423f11&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Here’s How Much Steven Mnuchin and Louise Linton’s Honeymoon Jet Would’ve Cost Taxpayers [Watch (HLS stream): Here’s How Much Steven Mnuchin and Louise Linton’s Honeymoon Jet Would’ve Cost Taxpayers](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tcAm4Hs5.m3u8) (1:37)  _Published 2017-09-14. MONEY VIDEO_ by [Tara John](https://time.com/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Nov 20, 2017 1:34 PM UTC  When Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and his wife Louise Linton stopped by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, they were photographed checking out $1 bills. The wire photos of the pair holding a sheet of dollars - the first currency notes bearing his and U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza's signatures - just made the parody too easy. It predictably and instantly became a flash point for online fun and comedian Andy Richter's joking tweet about it got 14,000 likes. When Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and his wife Louise Linton stopped by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, they were photographed checking out $1 bills. The wire photos of the pair holding a sheet of dollars - the first currency notes bearing his and U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza's signatures - just made the parody too easy. It predictably and instantly became a flash point for online fun and comedian Andy Richter's joking tweet about it got 14,000 likes. AP/REX/Shutterstock by [Tara John](https://time.com/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Nov 20, 2017 1:34 PM UTC Treasury Secretary [Steven Mnuchin](http://time.com/4907740/steve-mnuchin-yale-class-resign-donald-trump/) didn’t even know the photo of him and his wife, [Louise Linton](http://time.com/money/5026680/louise-linton-took-a-photo-with-a-sheet-of-1-bills-and-the-internet-is-going-crazy/), holding a sheet of newly printed dollar bills would go public, let alone viral. “I didn’t realize that the pictures were public and going on the Internet and viral,” Mnuchin [said on _Fox News Sunday_](http://www.foxnews.com/transcript/2017/11/19/exclusive-steven-mnuchin-talks-tax-reform-push.html). “But people have the right to do that. People can express what they want…That’s the great thing about social media today. People can say and communicate what they want.” The picture was taken by Associated Press photographer Jacquelyn Martin last Wednesday as Mnuchin and Linton toured the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington. It shows Linton, who was wearing long black-leather gloves, and Mnuchin holding one of the first sheets of bills bearing Mnuchin’s signature. Online commentators were quick to draw comparisons to everyone from Bond villains to Cruella de Vil. The former Hollywood producer told Fox News that he was not bothered about the Twitter attacks and that he should take it as a compliment to be linked to a “villain in a great, successful James Bond movie,” he said. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5031393/steven-mnuchin-money-sheet-viral/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5031393/steven-mnuchin-money-sheet-viral/"},"headline":"Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Had No Idea 'Bond Villain' Photo With Money Would Go Viral","datePublished":"2017-11-20T13:34:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:53:56.512Z","description":"Online commentators were quick to draw comparisons to everyone from Bond villains to Cruella de Vil","url":"https://time.com/5031393/steven-mnuchin-money-sheet-viral/","keywords":["politics","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc73459a50a6b2bcf/6988e672ab6d775db96b0b21/shutterstock_editorial_9224878a_huge.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc73459a50a6b2bcf/6988e672ab6d775db96b0b21/shutterstock_editorial_9224878a_huge.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, right, and his wife Louise Linton, hold up a sheet of new $1 bills, the first currency notes bearing his and U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza's signatures, in Washington on Nov. 15.","caption":"Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, right, and his wife Louise Linton, hold up a sheet of new $1 bills, the first currency notes bearing his and U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza's signatures, in Washington on Nov. 15.","creditText":"AP/REX/Shutterstock","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5031393/steven-mnuchin-money-sheet-viral/","name":"Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Had No Idea 'Bond Villain' Photo With Money Would Go Viral"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Here’s How Much Steven Mnuchin and Louise Linton’s Honeymoon Jet Would’ve Cost Taxpayers","description":"MONEY VIDEO","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/tcAm4Hs5/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-09-14T17:37:50.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tcAm4Hs5.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5031393/steven-mnuchin-money-sheet-viral/","duration":"PT1M37S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5031393/steven-mnuchin-money-sheet-viral/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```