I do not hide my admiration for the Department of the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. He’s intelligent, well-spoken, and easy on the eyes!
Bessent also has a sense of humor…unlike Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA). I’m not shocked.
Bessent had a hearing before the House Committee on Financial Services, of which Waters is the ranking member.
Waters thought the hearing was the first time the two had met. Bessent reminded her that they had met before, and Waters, of course, had to take a dig at him:
WATERS:Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Secretary Bessent. This is the first time we’ve met.BESSENT: Is that correct? No, ma’am. We actually met one New Year’s Eve in the Bahamas.WATERS: He didn’t make any impressions. Why don’t I remember that?BESSENT: Well, you were much better at the electric slide than I was. And I was with the prime minister of the Bahamas yesterday. Prime Minister Davis, who sent his regards.WATERS: Well, were you with my husband when he was the Ambassador to the Bahamas appointed by Clinton?BESSENT: So.WATERS: Well, you’re not going to like this. And so this is the first…uh, didn’t remember that, uh, but that’s odd because you’ve been at Treasury and I’ve sent you five letters to ask about what was going on under your leadership, and only received a couple of cursory replies from your staff. Why didn’t you respond?BESSENT: Ma’am?WATERS: I guess you don’t know why you didn’t respond.
How do you forget an encounter with Bessent? Also, why so rude? Did Waters think it made her look important that her husband served as ambassador under former President Bill Clinton?
Gee…I wonder how he got that position. Waters has been in office since 1991.
Oh, it gets worse…for Waters.
Waters knows for sure that non-Treasury Departments had access to sensitive information. She knows DOGE employees have all the access, even though DOGE employees do not exist.
Of course, Waters had to keep interrupting Bessent because he would prove her wrong:
WATERS: Do you know the level, type, or nature of the clearances and security training required for individuals to access the information held in the computers of Treasury, IRS, or CFPB?BESSENT: Yes, I do, and I think we would have a disagreement over the definition of the word unfettered.WATERS: Mr. Secretary, did all the individuals working with DOGE who were given access to Treasury and CFPB’s computer databases receive all of the required clearances and security training before they were granted access?BESSENT: Again, they were granted read-only access at Treasury. There were two —WATERS: So, let me just say —BESSENT: — two — two DOGE employees —WATERS: — please, you can’t filibuster here. This is not the filibuster playground. And so, what you did was you let these strangers into our Treasury with access to all of the data, all of the personnel information, and you just opened the door. Why did you do that?BESSENT: No, ma’am, they — they were Treasury employees.WATERS: Are you saying today in front of this committee, that all of them were Treasury employees? That the 25 year old who’s being identified who worked for Elon Musk was not allowed, was allowed into the Treasury? Was that person there?BESSENT: He was a Treasury employee, as was Tom Krause, the senior person on the DOGE team. There were only two people…WATERS: There were DOGE employees also…BESSENT: Sorry?WATERS: Do you know, were you aware that there were DOGE employees coming into our Treasury, getting all of our personal information,BESSENT: Ma’am, there is no such thing as a DOGE employee. They were Treasury employees.
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