9 hours Ago By Shanicka Anderson
In a move to shape his financial team, President-elect Donald Trump declared on Friday his intent to nominate hedge fund magnate Scott Bessent, known for his deficit reduction advocacy, as the next treasury secretary. In addition, Trump has chosen Russell Vought , a familiar face from his first term, to head the Office of Management and Budget. Vought's involvement with Project 2025, a conservative agenda for Trump's potential second term that became a contentious point during the campaign, did not deter the nomination.
These selections are part of Trump's efforts to build out the economic branch of his forthcoming administration. While Bessent's Wall Street ties might garner cross-party favor, Vought's reputation as a staunch Republican may signal a more uncompromising fiscal approach. Sunny Hostin slams Pam Bondi as equally 'dangerous pick' for attorney general The View's Joy Behar admits 'half the country is miserable' in honest Trump confession Trump praised Bessent as someone who will "help me usher in a new Golden Age for the United States," and lauded Vought as the right person to "knows exactly how to dismantle the Deep State and end Weaponized Government.
" The evening was busy with announcements as Trump also revealed his picks for other key roles: Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer from Oregon as labor secretary, and former NFL player and Trump administration alumnus Scott Turner for housing secretary. Trump has completed his health team lineup, tapping Dr.
Janette Nesheiwat, a family physician and familiar face on Fox News, for the role of surgeon general. He's also appointed Dr. Dave Weldon, an ex-GOP congressman from Florida , to head up the CDC, while Dr.
Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins surgeon, is set to lead the FDA. In a controversial move, Trump previously announced plans to nominate vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
as health secretary. In national security appointments, Alex Wong steps in as principal deputy national security adviser, with Sebastian Gorka taking on the role of senior director for counterterrorism. Wong brings expertise from Trump's first term on Asia-related issues, and Gorka returns after a brief stint in the previous White House as a conservative pundit.
Openly gay at 62, hedge fund founder of Key Square Capital Management, Bessent, who has had stints with Soros Fund Management since 1991, could make history as treasury secretary pending Senate confirmation. He expressed to Bloomberg back in August that tackling America's soaring national debt should be top of the agenda, advocating for cuts in government programs and spending. "This election cycle is the last chance for the U.
S. to grow our way out of this mountain of debt without becoming a sort of European-style socialist democracy," he declared at the time. As of November 8, the United States' national debt totals $35.
94 trillion, with both the Trump and Biden administrations contributing to its growth. The Trump administration's policies added $8.4 trillion to the debt, while the Biden administration increased it by $4.
3 trillion, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a fiscal watchdog group. Despite advocating for reduced spending to lower the national debt, Bessent has supported extending provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, signed into law by Trump during his first year in office. Various economic analyses estimate the costs of these tax cuts to be between nearly $6 trillion and $10 trillion over a decade.
The law's provisions are set to expire at the end of 2025. Prior to becoming a Trump donor and adviser, Bessent made donations to various Democratic causes in the early 2000s, including Al Gore's presidential campaign. He also worked for George Soros, a prominent Democratic supporter.
Bessent played a significant role in Soros' London operations, including his notable 1992 bet against the pound, which generated substantial profits on "Black Wednesday," when the pound was de-linked from European currencies. Bessent's selection was not unexpected, as his name had been mentioned as a potential candidate for the treasury secretary position. At an October event hosted by the Detroit Economic Club, Trump referred to Bessent as "one of the top analysts on Wall Street.
" In August, Bessent conveyed to Bloomberg his perspective that tariffs are just a "one time price adjustment" and "not inflationary," emphasizing that any levied in a potential second Trump term would mainly target China. Bessent further expounded in a Fox News op-ed this week that tariffs can be "a useful tool for achieving the president's foreign policy objectives," which include aims such as getting allies to increase defense spending or preventing military incursions. Moreover, Bessent has proposed strategies on how a Trump administration could exert influence over Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May 2026.
Last month, he postulated that Trump might appoint an early replacement chair to act essentially as a "shadow" chair, thus potentially marginalizing Powell. Yet, following the election, reports surfaced that Bessent had distanced himself from that suggestion. Powell himself has maintained that he would not resign if Trump requested it, underscoring that as president, Trump lacks the authority to dismiss him.
During his initial tenure, Trump publicly criticized Powell for increasing the Federal Reserve's prime rate in 2017 and 2018. In the run-up to the 2024 election, Trump declared that a president should have a "say" over the Feds interest rate policies, an assertion that departs from the traditional presidential silence on the Federal Reserve's decisions. Vought, aged 48, served as the head of the Office of Management and Budget from mid-2020 until the conclusion of Trump's first term in 2021.
Prior to this, he held positions as the acting director and deputy director. A product of Wheaton College and George Washington University Law School, Vought combined his extensive understanding of government finances with his personal Christian beliefs. Post Trump's initial term, Vought established the Center for Renewing America, a think tank that outlines its mission as reestablishing "a consensus of America as a nation under God.
" The Center for Renewing America unveiled its own 2023 budget proposal titled "A Commitment to End Work and Weaponized Government." The proposal projected $11.3 trillion in spending cuts over a decade and approximately $2 trillion in income tax reductions, aiming to achieve a budget surplus by 2032.
"The immediate threat facing the nation is the fact that the people no longer govern the country; instead, the government itself is increasingly weaponized against the people it is meant to serve," Vought penned in the introduction. Vought's budget proposal calls for major spending cuts, including $3.3 trillion slashed from the Health and Human Services Department, primarily affecting how Medicaid and Medicare are funded, and $642 billion in reductions to the Affordable Care Act.
The budgets for both the Housing and Urban Development and Education departments would also see decreases. While Vought's fiscal strategies are self-drafted, Trump has yet to fully detail his economic objectives, focusing his campaign on promoting income tax reductions and increased tariffs. In a closely fought contest, labor secretary nominee Chavez-DeRemer, 56, experienced a narrow defeat in her bid for reelection, despite significant union support within her district.
Distinct among House Republicans, Chavez-DeRemer backs the "Protecting the Right to Organize" or PRO Act, which champions broader opportunities for worker organizing activities and imposes penalties on firms that infringe upon workers' rights. Moreover, the act aims to undermine "right-to-work" laws, prevalent in over half the states, that permit employees to opt-out of joining or financing unions representing their workplace. Trump praised Chavez-DeRemer in a statement, asserting she would play a pivotal role in aligning the Labor Department with an agenda aimed at cultivating unparalleled national triumph.
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