{ "archive_path": "archive/1791370809.417196", "base_url": "www.mediaite.com/media/news/trumps-monster-5-wildest-revelations-from-wsjs-bombshell-scott-bessent-report", "basename": "", "bookmarked_date": "2026-10-07 11:00", "canonical": { "archive_org_path": "https://web.archive.org/web/www.mediaite.com/media/news/trumps-monster-5-wildest-revelations-from-wsjs-bombshell-scott-bessent-report", "dom_path": "output.html", "favicon_path": "favicon.ico", "git_path": "git/", "google_favicon_path": "https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=www.mediaite.com", "headers_path": "headers.json", "htmltotext_path": "htmltotext.txt", "index_path": "index.html", "media_path": "media/", "mercury_path": "mercury/content.html", "pdf_path": "output.pdf", "readability_path": "readability/content.html", "screenshot_path": "screenshot.png", "singlefile_path": "singlefile.html", "warc_path": "warc/", "wget_path": "www.mediaite.com/media/news/trumps-monster-5-wildest-revelations-from-wsjs-bombshell-scott-bessent-report/index.html" }, "domain": "www.mediaite.com", "extension": "", "hash": "SK29Q4NP4P8AC1728WS7", "history": { "archive_org": [], "dom": [], "favicon": [ { "cmd": [ "curl", "--silent", "--location", "--compressed", "--max-time", "120", "--output", "favicon.ico", "--user-agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=www.mediaite.com" ], "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "end_ts": "2026-10-07T13:26:54.639575+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "favicon.ico", "pwd": "/data/archive/1791370809.417196", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-10-07T13:26:54.007496+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "git": [], "headers": [ { "cmd": [ "curl", "--silent", "--location", "--compressed", "--head", "--max-time", "120", "--user-agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trumps-monster-5-wildest-revelations-from-wsjs-bombshell-scott-bessent-report/" ], "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "end_ts": "2026-10-07T13:26:55.489875+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "headers.json", "pwd": "/data/archive/1791370809.417196", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-10-07T13:26:54.648458+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "htmltotext": [], "media": [], "mercury": [ { "cmd": [ "/app/node_modules/@postlight/parser/cli.js", "https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trumps-monster-5-wildest-revelations-from-wsjs-bombshell-scott-bessent-report/" ], "cmd_version": "1.0.0", "end_ts": "2026-10-07T13:27:10.957788+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "mercury", "pwd": "/data/archive/1791370809.417196", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-10-07T13:27:07.244556+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "pdf": [], "readability": [ { "cmd": [ "/app/node_modules/readability-extractor/readability-extractor", "/tmp/tmpb1t4rim3", "https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trumps-monster-5-wildest-revelations-from-wsjs-bombshell-scott-bessent-report/" ], "cmd_version": "0.0.11", "end_ts": "2026-10-07T13:27:07.235390+00:00", "index_texts": [ "AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin\nPresident Donald Trump has reportedly found plenty to like about Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent but he has also privately groused about his cabinet official\u2019s difficult streak, according to a bombshell Wall Street Journal investigation of the cabinet member\u2019s tenure.\nTrump summed up the relationship during an April event in Nevada, telling the crowd that he\u2019d \u201ccreated a monster\u201d in Bessent.\nThe line, however, takes on a different complexion in light of The Journal\u2019s account, which depicts Bessent presiding over an extraordinarily high-pressure Treasury Department while clashing with senior officials, erupting at aides and repeatedly finding himself at the center of explosive confrontations.\nBessent disputed some of the incidents described by The Journal but the report, based on interviews with current and former officials and others familiar with the episodes, contains no shortage of striking details.\nHere are five of the wildest:\nTrump Takes Credit for Creating \u2018a Monster\u2019\nTrump has reportedly come to value Bessent\u2019s abilities but has also portrayed his Treasury secretary as difficult, while stealing some credit for Bessent\u2019s newfound prominence:\nThe president has told advisers that he thinks Bessent is adept at calming the markets, and he has encouraged him to help figure out a way to lower interest rates. But during an event in Nevada in April, Trump described Bessent as difficult and took credit for turning the Treasury secretary into a \u201cbig star.\u201d\n\u201cI created a monster,\u201d Trump joked.\nBessent\u2019s Profanity-Laced Treasury Blowup at His Own Deputy\nOne of the most vivid scenes described in the report came after Trump directed Bessent to investigate fraud allegations involving Minnesota\u2019s Somali community.\nBessent reportedly believed John Hurley, Treasury\u2019s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, was not moving quickly enough.\nAccording to The Journal:\nPresident Trump had just asked his Treasury secretary to investigate allegations of fraud in Minnesota\u2019s Somali community \u2013 and Bessent thought one of his top deputies was dragging his feet.\nDuring a January meeting at the Treasury Department, Bessent confronted John Hurley, the agency\u2019s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, yelling at him in front of aides and unleashing profanities. Bessent shouted so loudly that staff working nearby could hear him, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.\nWeeks later, Bessent discussed with aides the idea of finding Hurley, who had been confirmed by the Senate for his position, a job outside the department, the people said. Hurley left to be U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.\nBessent\u2019s Binder Incident\nBessent\u2019s reported frustrations were not limited to senior political officials. Current and former Treasury personnel described an intense working environment in which the secretary could lash out over the pace of implementing his agenda or negative press coverage.\nOne episode allegedly involved something as mundane as the organization of his briefing materials, according to The Journal:\nAnd his temper has flared. He has shouted at staff for not moving fast enough to implement his ideas and for failing to combat unfavorable media coverage, some of the officials said. Last year, Bessent got so angry about the way his daily briefing book was organized that he picked up the binder full of papers and threw it at a wall, people familiar with the matter said.\nBessent denied the account to The Wall Street Journal.\n\u201cA lot of people in the investment community had hoped he was the adult in the room,\u201d said Stephen Myrow, a former Treasury official and managing partner at Beacon Policy Advisors. Investors are \u201cstarting to see him as acting more and more like Trump\u2026and that\u2019s shaking confidence in him.\u201d\nMusk, Pulte and the Treasury Secretary\u2019s Fighting Season\nBessent\u2019s famously combative encounters have also reportedly extended to some of the most powerful figures in Trump\u2019s orbit. The Treasury secretary reportedly revels in his \u201ctough guy\u201d image and had an explosive fight with Elon Musk during the early months of the administration in a dispute over the Internal Revenue Service, according to The Journal. Months later came another clash, this time involving Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte.\nHe had to be separated from Elon Musk early on in the Trump administration after the two men got into a shouting match in the West Wing during a disagreement over the Internal Revenue Service. Bessent confronted Trump\u2019s housing chief, Bill Pulte, at a private dinner in September 2025, physically threatening Pulte over allegations that Pulte was undermining him with Trump.\nBessent later made light of the confrontation with Pulte during a CNBC appearance.\n\u201cTreasury secretaries dating back to Alexander Hamilton have a history of dueling,\u201d he quipped when asked during a CNBC interview about his argument with Pulte, \u201c\u2018and it turned out a little better for Treasury\u2019s side this time.\u201d\nBessent Allegedly Spat in His Own Food Before Leaving a Restaurant\nPerhaps the most bizarre scene in The Journal\u2019s report unfolded not at Treasury or the White House, but inside a Washington restaurant.\nBessent was dining there in December when protesters from the liberal activist group Code Pink began heckling him over the Trump administration\u2019s sanctions policies.\nHis anger apparently shifted from the protesters to the restaurant itself.\nWhen hecklers from the liberal group Code Pink interrupted the Treasury secretary at a Washington restaurant in December and criticized the Trump administration\u2019s economic sanctions policies, Bessent called them ignorant and erupted at the owner of the restaurant for not removing them. According to the owner and also a nearby diner, Bessent spit in his own food before leaving.\nThe Journal\u2019s portrait also suggested Bessent\u2019s combative streak extends well beyond internal policy fights, and is described in the piece as \u201cthin skinned\u201d and prone to falling back on \u201cad hominem attacks\u201d when challenged.\nBessent\u2019s defenders, meanwhile, per the newspaper, acknowledged he \u201ccan be combative, has a temper and is demanding with staff,\u201d with MAGA ally Steve Bannon describing his attitude as essentially: \u201cI\u2019m not interested in your feelings. If your feelings are hurt, I\u2019m sorry, but get the f*ck out of here.\u201d\nNew: The Mediaite One-Sheet \"Newsletter of Newsletters\"Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. 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