Trump nominates hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to head Treasury Department

President-elect Donald Trump announced the nomination of Scott Bessent, a hedge fund manager, to head the Treasury Department, on Friday evening.

Bessent, who is 62 years old, founded the macro fund Key Square Group in 2015 and is openly gay.

'I was all in for President Trump. I was one of the few Wall Street people backing him.'

Trump previously referred to Bessent as “one of the most brilliant men on Wall Street."

Bessent is from a small town in South Carolina and studied at Yale before ending up on Wall Street working at Soros Fund Management. When he started Key Square Group, left-wing billionaire George Soros invested $2 billion in the fund.

Bessent has been a donor and supporter of Trump as well as an economic adviser in the 2024 presidential campaign. He also worked as a top fundraiser. In January, he predicted that there would be a rally in the stock market once Trump won the election, and he was correct.

“I was all in for President Trump. I was one of the few Wall Street people backing him,” he said in one interview.

He has called on Trump to implement deregulation and tax cuts. He's also warned about the worsening debt burden and attributed it to "four years of reckless spending" under the Biden administration.

Trump announced the pick on social media.

"Scott has long been a strong advocate of the America First Agenda," wrote Trump. "On the eve of our Great Country's 250th Aniversary, he will help me usher in a new Golden Age for the United States, as we fortify our position as the World's leading Economy, Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurialism, Destination for Capital, while always, and without question, maintaining the U.S. Dollar as the Reserve Currency of the World."

"Scott's story is that of the American Dream," he said.

Some on the right criticized his reported nomination based on his connections to Soros, but others like BlazeTV contributor Carol Roth praised the pick.

"Given the mess that [Janet] Yellen is leaving Treasury in, Bessent was the best choice of all the names floated," she posted on social media.

The nomination must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Editor's note: This article was updated with additional information on 11/22/24 at 8:07 p.m. ET.

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