Trump nominates Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary

Photo: Matt Kelley Associated Press Investor Scott Bessent at a Donald Trump campaign rally in Asheville, North Carolina, on August 14.

Erwan Lucas – Agence France-Presse in Washington

Published yesterday at 8:26 p.m. Updated yesterday at 8:45 p.m.

• United States

Donald Trump announced Friday that he is nominating Scott Bessent, a vocal proponent of political control over the Federal Reserve, for the key post of Treasury secretary, while Russ Vought, one of the main authors of the controversial “2025 Project,” is to take charge of the budget.

Cited among the favorites for this position, Scott Bessent, founder of the investment company Key Square Group and long-time close to the Trump family, will play a key role in implementing the economic program of the President-elect of the United States, but also in controlling the public debt.

“He will help me launch a new golden age for the United States, by solidifying our role as the world's leading economy, a center of innovation and business creation, a destination for capital, while ensuring that the dollar remains, without a doubt, the world's reserve currency,” Donald Trump declared in a statement.

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In a statement, the American Bankers Association (ABA) welcomed the appointment of Scott Bessent, saying his background in finance “will help him lead a department that is critical to the global economy and the nation’s banks.”

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The re-elected president then appointed Russ Vought, one of the main authors of the controversial “2025 Project,” to head the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a key agency that helps the president decide on policy priorities and funding.

“Project 2025,” which Donald Trump had assured during his campaign that he was not associated with, is a 900-page program designed by the Heritage Foundation think tank, which aims to be an unofficial and radical roadmap, drawn up by people close to conservative circles.

The text plans in particular to reform the status of federal civil servant, until now largely protected from alternations of political power, which could allow Donald Trump to place more loyal ultraconservatives in key positions.

It also proposes to reshape federal agencies to centralize executive power in the hands of the White House and thus allow the implementation of a very conservative policy on subjects ranging from immigration to abortion.

Finally, Donald Trump announced that he was appointing Republican congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who failed in her bid for re-election to Congress in early November, to the post of Secretary of Labor.

A former close friend of George Soros

A graduate of the renowned Yale University, Scott Bessent began his career in 1991 at the investment firm of billionaire George Soros (SFM), a real bête noire of conservatives. He left SFM for the first time in 2000 to launch his own investment fund.

After an initial failure, he returned in 2011 before resigning again to launch Key Square Group.

Scott Bessent will play a key role at the head of the Treasury Department, a prestigious position within the government, with a role of advice, management of the federal budget, and supervision of economic policy.

In particular, he will have to increase and perpetuate the tax cuts made during Donald Trump's first term (2017-2021) and which will expire in 2025.

His mission will also be to manage the reduction of the public deficit, control of the federal debt which has reached 36,000 billion dollars, as well as trade relations with the United States' main partners, including China.

He will also play an important role in the control of financial supervisory institutions such as the Fed, with regard to which he ardently defends a greater role for political power in the decision-making process.

Scott Bessent would become, if his nomination is approved by the Senate, the first openly gay minister of a Republican government, the magazine points out Forbes.

His name had been put forward to the Treasury since Donald Trump's victory, along with that of Howard Lutnick, who was finally appointed Secretary of Commerce on Tuesday and who had support in Donald Trump's entourage, notably that of billionaire Elon Musk.

Comparing the two men, Elon Musk had estimated on his X account that Scott “Bessent would be a choice for the status quo, while Howard Lutnick would really implement the change” wanted by Donald Trump.