Inside Bessent's Treasury: Tension, Turnover and -2

Bessent's reputation as a challenging boss has complicated efforts to fill key vacancies at the department, according to people familiar with the matter. Several potential recruits said they decided not to pursue job opportunities at Treasury because they had heard about Bessent's behavior. 'Mission oriented' Bessent's defenders in and out of the administration acknowledge he can be combative, has a temper and is demanding with staff. But they argue his intense approach to the job is an asset.

"He's a good person, but he's got a tripwire and he's got a temper," said former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who said he has known the secretary for nearly a decade. "'We got a purpose and mission here, and we're mission oriented. And I'm not interested in your feelings. If your feelings are hurt, I'm sorry, but get the f -- out of here,'" Bannon said, in describing Bessent's attitude toward Treasury staff.

The defenders said Bessent puts pressure on his employees to improve their performance and ensure they execute the president's agenda, a tactic he learned when he ran an investment firm. The secretary's advisers also criticized some of the staff who have left the department after clashing with Bessent, arguing that they were standing in the way of the president's vision. "The secretary is demanding and results oriented. As one of the world's greatest macro investors, this should not be a surprise.

When I worked for him, he was always professional and respectful," said Joseph Lavorgna, who was a counselor to the secretary for just under a year. Bessent's backers also say bond yields would have been even higher without his intervention, and they point to success in supporting the Argentine peso and Japanese yen. And while economic growth hasn't reached 3%, it has been relatively solid and may be accelerating now thanks to the AI boom. As an investor on Wall Street, Bessent developed a reputation for his intensity, according to former colleagues.

Bessent -- who worked for George Soros's hedge fund, Soros Fund Management, and became the firm's chief investment officer in 2011 -- sometimes exhibited streaks of anger. After a $200 million investment in Philip Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners ran into trouble in 2012, Bessent became angry in a meeting at the firm's office, as Soros and a half-dozen others watched uncomfortably. "We had a very animated discussion" over Harbinger's investment in an ill-fated wireless venture, "which he clearly didn't know the first thing about, and I think he got quite annoyed when I implied that," Falcone recalled. " A Soros representative declined to comment.

Falcone reached a civil settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2013 after the regulator said he and his firm harmed investors. He and the firm agreed to pay more than $18 million, and Falcone was banned from the securities industry for five years. At Treasury, current and former department officials described in interviews a high-stress work environment that veterans of past administrations said was more intense than they have experienced. People who have worked with Bessent said he often appears calm but can excoriate staff when he is frustrated.

Some aides said they ask colleagues about the secretary's mood before coming into contact with him, and trade advice on how to avoid him when he is angry. Several officials described feeling relieved when Bessent was away from the office. The Treasury secretary cycled through three people filling the role of chief of staff before settling on Kate Tyrrell in June. Dan Katz, Bessent's first chief of staff, was among the officials who clashed with Bessent, according to people familiar with the matter.

He left the agency in fall 2025 to be a senior official at the International Monetary Fund. Bessent sometimes lashed out at Katz in meetings when he offered counsel on policy matters, according to some of the people. " He said he left when he was promoted to a consequential role in international finance. Trump's tough guy Bessent enjoys cultivating a tough-guy image, according to former Treasury officials, who said the secretary found reports about altercations with other Trump advisers humorous.

He asked more than one aide if they had read the news coverage of his dust-ups with administration officials. He had to be separated from Elon Musk early on in the Trump administration after the two men got into a shouting match in the West Wing during a disagreement over the Internal Revenue Service. Bessent confronted Trump's housing chief, Bill Pulte, at a private dinner in September 2025, physically threatening Pulte over allegations that Pulte was undermining him with Trump. " Bessent has also clashed with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to an administration official and a Trump adviser, at times questioning Lutnick's competency in his job.

Last year, at The Ned, a private Washington club frequented by administration officials, Lutnick asked Bessent if the two men could talk. "No," Bessent curtly replied, turning his back on the Commerce secretary, according to a person who witnessed the exchange. Lutnick told the Journal there was no disagreement at The Ned. "That evening, we spoke to the president together.

Scott is a key member of the administration and is committed to advancing President Trump's agenda," he said. Bessent's aggressive approach to the job has improved his standing with Trump, who has long been known as a demanding boss and has told advisers that he likes the Treasury secretary's feisty public persona. Trump supported Bessent's move to intervene in the bond market, according to a senior administration official, despite criticism from Wall Street analysts. Trump calls Bessent almost every day, according to people familiar with the conversations.

The Treasury secretary is one of the few senior administration officials who can talk the president out of ideas he views as unwise, some of the people said, such as escalating tariffs. A White House official said Bessent has told other administration officials he doesn't want the president to view his agency as a dysfunctional operation. The president has told advisers that he thinks Bessent is adept at calming the markets, and he has encouraged him to help figure out a way to lower interest rates. " "I created a monster," Trump joked.

Bessent and his allies have worked to protect his public image, battling reporters in public and private over their coverage. The Treasury secretary yells at his communications staff over stories or headlines he doesn't like, current and former officials said. After the Journal wrote a story about Bessent's purchase of government bonds that Bessent objected to, the Treasury Department blocked a Journal reporter from attending a press conference where the secretary announced his plan to isolate Iran through stepped-up economic sanctions.

The department also revoked the credentials of reporters from the Journal, the New York Times and Bloomberg to cover a G-20 finance ministers summit in North Carolina. Bessent has complained about all three news outlets' coverage of him. He has also taken issue with the Financial Times over its coverage. " When hecklers from the liberal group Code Pink interrupted the Treasury secretary at a Washington restaurant in December and criticized the Trump administration's economic sanctions policies, Bessent called them ignorant and erupted at the owner of the restaurant for not removing them.

According to the owner and also a nearby diner, Bessent spit in his own food before leaving. "When people legitimately question what he's doing he falls back on ad hominem attacks," said Myrow, the managing partner at Beacon Policy Advisors. " In June 2025, a day after Treasury sanctioned three Mexican financial firms, the country's president Claudia Sheinbaum at a press conference called for proof that the firms had been laundering money in connection with illegal opioid trafficking. "We are no one's piñata," Sheinbaum said.

Bessent began upbraiding his staff, urging them to publicly push back on her remarks. Treasury staff in Mexico received emails from Bessent aides in Washington that laid out the secretary's frustrations. The secretary is losing it, one of Bessent's aides said at the time, meaning Bessent was losing his temper, according to a person who received one of the emails. com (END) Dow Jones Newswires October 06, 2026 21:00 ET (01:00 GMT) Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

The statements in this document shall not be considered as an objective or independent explanation of the matters. Please note that this document (a) has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research, and (b) is not subject to any prohibition on dealing ahead of the dissemination or publication of investment research.