AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
President Donald Trump has reportedly found plenty to like about Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent but he has also privately groused about his cabinet official’s difficult streak, according to a bombshell Wall Street Journal investigation of the cabinet member’s tenure.
Trump summed up the relationship during an April event in Nevada, telling the crowd that he’d “created a monster” in Bessent.
The line, however, takes on a different complexion in light of The Journal’s 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.
Bessent 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.
Here are five of the wildest:
Trump Takes Credit for Creating ‘a Monster’
Trump has reportedly come to value Bessent’s abilities but has also portrayed his Treasury secretary as difficult, while stealing some credit for Bessent’s newfound prominence:
The 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 “big star.”
“I created a monster,” Trump joked.
Bessent’s Profanity-Laced Treasury Blowup at His Own Deputy
One of the most vivid scenes described in the report came after Trump directed Bessent to investigate fraud allegations involving Minnesota’s Somali community.
Bessent reportedly believed John Hurley, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, was not moving quickly enough.
According to The Journal:
President Trump had just asked his Treasury secretary to investigate allegations of fraud in Minnesota’s Somali community – and Bessent thought one of his top deputies was dragging his feet.
During a January meeting at the Treasury Department, Bessent confronted John Hurley, the agency’s 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.
Weeks 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.
Bessent’s Binder Incident
Bessent’s 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.
One episode allegedly involved something as mundane as the organization of his briefing materials, according to The Journal:
And 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.
Bessent denied the account to The Wall Street Journal.
“A lot of people in the investment community had hoped he was the adult in the room,” said Stephen Myrow, a former Treasury official and managing partner at Beacon Policy Advisors. Investors are “starting to see him as acting more and more like Trump…and that’s shaking confidence in him.”
Musk, Pulte and the Treasury Secretary’s Fighting Season
Bessent’s famously combative encounters have also reportedly extended to some of the most powerful figures in Trump’s orbit. The Treasury secretary reportedly revels in his “tough guy” 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.
He 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’s housing chief, Bill Pulte, at a private dinner in September 2025, physically threatening Pulte over allegations that Pulte was undermining him with Trump.
Bessent later made light of the confrontation with Pulte during a CNBC appearance.
“Treasury secretaries dating back to Alexander Hamilton have a history of dueling,” he quipped when asked during a CNBC interview about his argument with Pulte, “‘and it turned out a little better for Treasury’s side this time.”
Bessent Allegedly Spat in His Own Food Before Leaving a Restaurant
Perhaps the most bizarre scene in The Journal’s report unfolded not at Treasury or the White House, but inside a Washington restaurant.
Bessent was dining there in December when protesters from the liberal activist group Code Pink began heckling him over the Trump administration’s sanctions policies.
His anger apparently shifted from the protesters to the restaurant itself.
When hecklers from the liberal group Code Pink interrupted the Treasury secretary at a Washington restaurant in December and criticized the Trump administration’s 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.
The Journal’s portrait also suggested Bessent’s combative streak extends well beyond internal policy fights, and is described in the piece as “thin skinned” and prone to falling back on “ad hominem attacks” when challenged.
Bessent’s defenders, meanwhile, per the newspaper, acknowledged he “can be combative, has a temper and is demanding with staff,” with MAGA ally Steve Bannon describing his attitude as essentially: “I’m not interested in your feelings. If your feelings are hurt, I’m sorry, but get the f*ck out of here.”
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