WASHINGTON (AP) — The president-elect Donald Trump announced on Friday that he will nominate Scott Bessent, former fund manager for George Soros and advocate for deficit reduction, to be his next Treasury Secretary, one of the key positions in the United States government cabinet as the federal official in charge of finances.
Bessent, 62, is the founder of the hedge fund Key Square Capital Management, after having worked intermittently for Soros Fund Management since 1991.
If confirmed by the Senate, he would be the nation's first openly gay Treasury Secretary.
Why did Bessent support Trump's candidacy?
In August, Bessent told Bloomberg that he decided to join Trump's campaign in part to tackle the growing national debt of the United States. This would include cutting government programs and other expenses.
"This electoral cycle is the last opportunity for the United States to grow and get out of this mountain of debt without becoming a kind of European-style socialist democracy," said the nominee for Treasury Secretary at the time.
All nominations to the new cabinet must be ratified by the Senate, but in this case, Bessent should not encounter much resistance, unlike Pete Hegseth (Defense) and Tulsi Gabbard (National Intelligence Director).
Why didn't Elon Musk want Bessent as Treasury Secretary?
The South African businessman has become Donald Trump's right-hand man during this transition period, and they want him to be seen as a co-president, already causing some discomfort among Republican circles.
A few days ago, Musk started a campaign for users of the social network X to give their opinion on who should be the new Secretary of the Treasury. And he showed his preference for Howard Lutnick over Scott Bessent.
“Bessent is a conventional choice, while Lutnick will actually implement changes,” Musk said.
However, Trump chose Lutnick for Secretary of Commerce and appointed Bessent as Secretary of the Treasury, considered to be more conventional and business-friendly, as well as a skeptic of cryptocurrencies.