US President-elect Barack Obama "absolutely" stands behind Timothy Geithner, his choice for Treasury secretary, despite "a big mistake" involving his failure to pay some taxes, the incoming White House chief of staff said on Sunday.
Geithner made a "big mistake," Rahm Emanuel, the incoming chief of staff, said in a interview on NBC television's Meet the Press. "But he's the right guy for this job," and Obama backs him "absolutely."
Obama, who is to be sworn in as president on Tuesday, said last week that Geithner, who as treasury secretary would oversee the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service, had made an "innocent mistake."
A senior adviser to Obama, David Axelrod, said he was confident Geithner, who as president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank played a big role in efforts to calm roiled financial markets, would be confirmed by the Senate.
"He is precisely the kind of person we need in the Treasury right now. And I think, when people get to know him - and he's going to testify this week - I think he's going to inspire great confidence," Axelrod said on Sunday on ABC television's This Week.
A Senate Finance Committee hearing on Geithner's nomination scheduled for last week was postponed until Wednesday after some senators demanded more time to consider the controversy.
The delay in the hearing means Obama will start his administration without a Treasury secretary at his side during the worst US economic crisis since World War Two. Most other cabinet nominees are expected to win full Senate approval very soon after Obama is sworn in.
Geithner failed to pay several years worth of Social Security and Medicare taxes from 2001 to 2004.
Obama aides have characterised the errors as honest mistakes, and Geithner has amended his tax returns to repay about $42,700 (NZD$78,840) in back taxes and interest.
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