Scott Bessent tore into the New York Times at the paper’s own media conference on Wednesday — accusing it of pushing distorted coverage of President Trump’s health while downplaying its own failures to scrutinize former President Joe Biden’s decline.
In a tense onstage exchange at the paper’s Dealbook Summit in New York City, Bessent warned Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin that the paper was drifting toward irrelevance and had become a “fever swamp,” insisting he no longer reads the Times himself.
Scott Bessent tore into the New York Times at its own Dealbook Summit on Wednesday. Getty Images
“You know, in 20, 30, 40, 50 years, the New York Times is no longer the paper of record,” Bessent predicted in comments reported by Mediaite.
The Treasury secretary cited a Times report last week that claimed that Trump, 79 was starting to show his age: shorter public days, later starts, and moments in which he appeared fatigued during meetings.
The Treasury chief told moderator Andrew Ross Sorkin that Times articles forwarded to him proved the outlet had become, in his words, a “fever swamp,” insisting he no longer reads the paper himself. Getty Images for The New York Times
“I read this article, like ‘President Trump is slowing down. President Trump’s mental capacity –’ It is a hundred percent fake. Like he only called me twice at 2 in the morning last week instead of three times.”
According to the Times story, Trump holds far fewer public events than he did during the first year of his first term and travels domestically at a slower pace, even as he increases foreign trips.
The article also cited instances in which the president’s eyes drooped during midday meetings, and recounted questions surrounding recent medical procedures he disclosed without detail.
In a tense onstage exchange, Bessent warned that the Times was drifting toward irrelevance. Christopher Sadowski
In response, Bessent highlighted a lengthy cCabinet meeting as evidence the president was fully engaged as he faulted the paper for ignoring the pace of official work.
Bessent went on to accuse the Times of contributing to what he called “one of the greatest scandals of all time” through its “coverage of the Biden administration, Joe Biden’s diminished capacity, and the cover-up.”
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Sorkin pushed back, arguing that concerns about Biden’s coverage meant it was “probably fair to raise these questions” about Trump’s condition as well.
A recent Times report said President Trump, now 79, was showing the realities of age: shorter public days, later starts, and moments in which he appeared fatigued during meetings. Al Drago/UPI/Shutterstock
Bessent rejected that argument, saying the paper had ignored Trump’s pace of work to manufacture narratives.
“Where was the New York Times? We just had a three-hour cabinet meeting yesterday, Andrew!” he said, before asserting that Biden rarely convened his own cabinet and asking how “you’re going to invoke the 25th Amendment if the cabinet secretaries never see the president?”
The Times’ most recent quarterly earnings show the publisher now counts more than 12 million subscribers, almost all of them digital.
Bessent escalated his criticism by accusing the Times of contributing to what he described as “one of the greatest scandals of all time” through its “coverage of the Biden administration, Joe Biden’s diminished capacity, and the cover-up.” REUTERS
The company added nearly half a million digital-only subscribers in the latest quarter, lifted revenue nearly 10% and posted double-digit profit growth.
Its stock trades near a 52-week high, and analysts peg its valuation north of $10 billion.
The Post has sought comment from the Times.