If confirmed by the Senate, he should play an essential role in implementing the economic program of the president-elect of the United States but also in controlling the public debt.
Scott Bessent, 62, was chosen Friday, November 22 by Donald Trump as Secretary of the Treasury, equivalent to the Minister of Economy and Finance. This founder of an investment fund has already detailed his program, which will begin with deregulation and tax reforms.
Close to Donald Trump, he did not wait long to lay out the economic priorities of the new administration. On November 10, the founder of the investment fund Key Square Capital Management took a platform in the Wall Street Journaljust four days after the election of Donald Trump, and even before being appointed to the government. “Deregulation and tax reform” will be subjects “essential to restart the engine of American growth, reduce inflationary pressures, and reduce the debt burden”according to the financier from South Carolina. At the top of his program: extending the tax cuts from Donald Trump's first term, “get rid of these failed green policies” et “adjust the budget deficit”he said the same day, guest on the Roger Stone Show.
Being in Donald Trump's cabinet… is an easy job, not about proposing new policies, but about doing what Donald Trump wants you to do. »
Scott Bessant
Inflation and more broadly the economy were among the main axes of Donald Trump's electoral campaign, and largely contributed to his return to the White House. Scott Bessent, a friend of the president-elect's late brother, has known the Trump family for 30 years. Donald Trump recently described it as “one of the greatest analysts on Wall Street”. He invested $3 million in the Republican's campaign, reports Forbes. “I was all for President Trump. I was one of the few on Wall Street to support him.”he declared to the Roger Stone Show.
“Being in Donald Trump’s cabinet (…) is an easy job”Who “is not about proposing new policies”more “to do what Donald Trump wants you to do”he declared again. He had described the Republican as “very sophisticated in terms of economic policy” compared to Kamala Harris, a “economically illiterate”according to him, he recently told Forbes.
Graduated from the prestigious Yale University in 1984, it was nevertheless with the democratic financier George Soros that Scott Bessent spent a significant part of his career, between 1991 and 2000, then from 2011 to 2015, as investment director for Soros Fund Management , according to Forbes magazine. In 2015, he raised enough money, including $2 billion from George Soros, to create his own investment fund. The two men have not spoken since “years”according to the Wall Street Journalwhich further emphasizes that Scott Bessent was once a supporter of Democrat Al Gore.
The scenario of a “shadow president” at the Fed
Scott Bessent is also the architect of a plan intended to weaken the independence of the American central bank, the Fed, as Donald Trump wants, with the scenario of a «shadow president» (shadow president) of the Fed, which would remove all influence from the current head of the institution. If his nomination is approved by the Senate, he would become the first openly gay minister of a Republican government, notes Forbes.
In 2015, in the magazine of former Yale graduates, he spoke about his personal situation, a few years after marrying his husband, and when their two children were very young. “If you had told me in 1984, when we were graduating and people were dying of AIDS, that 30 years later I would be legally married and we would have had two children via surrogate, I would not have told you believed”he said.
Scott Bessent and his husband recently put the historic house they own in Charleston, South Carolina, up for sale, a local newspaper reported Tuesday. This pink and white 10-bedroom villa, with vast bay-front terraces, is priced at $22.25 million.
