Democrats in the House pushed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over accusations of corruption and grifting by the Trump administration during a contentious Wednesday hearing on Capitol Hill.
Bessent appeared before the House Financial Services Committee, where he presented the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s 2025 Annual Report. Some Democrats used the opportunity to rail against the Trump administration and assert that it is corrupt.
GREGORY MEEKS RAILS AGAINST BESSENT IN CONGRESSIONAL HEARING: ‘DON’T BE A FLUNKY!’
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) pressed Bessent about World Liberty Financial, a company tied to President Donald Trump’s family. The questioning followed a Wall Street Journal report that the company secretly sold a $500 million stake in the firm to someone in the Emirati royal family just days before Trump’s 2025 inauguration.
“Stop covering for the president! Don’t be a flunky, work for the American people! Work for the American people, don’t be a cover-up for a mob!” Meeks shouted at Bessent in a loud exchange.
The deal was reportedly signed by Eric Trump, the president’s son, and more than $30 million was planned to go to Steve Witkoff’s family. Witkoff had before that been named U.S. envoy to the Middle East.
“I just want to know whether you will commit today to pause, and heighten the scrutiny of any bank charter or licensing application at the [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency] connected to the World Liberty Financial until all of these conflicts of interest and foreign influence reviews are completed and shared with the United States Congress,” Meeks said to Bessent.
Bessent accused Meeks of traveling to Venezuela in 2006 to lobby Hugo Chavez on behalf of a donor, which resulted in an extended period of the men talking over each other.
Rep. Al Green (D-TX) also appeared to accuse Trump of corruption. He pointed out how the stock market sank after Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement, but later rebounded and surged after a pause was announced.
“Hours before the President announced the pause, he indicated by way of Truth Social — he has a more than 50% ownership in Truth Social — ‘It’s a great time to buy DJT,’” Green said.
Green pointed out that the ticker for Trump Media & Technology Group is DJT and hinted that Trump may not have merely signed off with his initials in the social media post, but was instead indicating that people should buy stock in “DJT” before the tariff pause.
“I ask you kindly and as one professional to another, secretary, do you think that this should be investigated? The president’s stock being linked to his Truth Social message, and that stock having gone up by some $415 million in a single day?” Green asked.
Bessent pushed back on the notion.
“Well, all Americans benefited from the rebound in the markets that day, and in fact, the rebound in the market after that was the fastest in market history,” Bessent responded.
The treasury secretary indicated that he thought the “DJT” at the end of the message was a “salutation,” or a sign-off based on Trump’s initials, rather than a call to buy DJT stock.
During the hearing, Bessent was also asked about Trump’s tariff agenda, which has been largely panned by Democrats and some Republicans and has been claimed by some to be inflationary.
Ranking member Maxine Waters (D-CA) asked Bessent whether the tariffs are inflationary, and he responded that he doesn’t think that tariffs cause inflation. She then pressed him on whether that was contradictory, given that the Trump administration later exempted a broad swath of imports, such as bananas and coffee, from the tariff regime to bring down prices.
“Also, the real question is, why would you even impose a tariff on a good that a country doesn’t grow or make, as that would only serve to punish the American consumer?” Waters asked.
Bessent later rejected Waters’ framing of the matter after a contentious back-and-forth. “I believe the ranking member does not understand the definition of generalized inflation versus one-time price increases,” he said.
During the hearing, some Republicans used the opportunity to highlight legislative efforts on the committee to help lower costs, especially through the bipartisan Housing for the 21st Century Act, which introduces new policies designed to boost housing supply and ease the affordability crisis.
FAMILY BUSINESS: TRUMP FAMILY GRIFTS RECEIVES LESS PUSHBACK SECOND TIME AROUND
Chairman French Hill (R-AR) pointed out that some were predicting that the economy would crater in the first year of Trump 2.0, which has not happened.
“With most of the official data in the books, those warnings missed the mark by a mile,” Hill said. “Inflation came in nearly 1 percentage point lower than projected. The unemployment rate never increased beyond 4.5%. No recession materialized, and GDP is on track to have three consecutive quarters of above 3% growth. Meanwhile, the budget deficit is on track to fall to 5.4% of GDP.”
