Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday said that he supported Bill Pulte’s appointment as President Trump’s acting director of national intelligence and expressed a desire to work constructively with him.
But he also made it clear that the two have not always had a great rapport.
Speaking at a Senate Finance Committee hearing, Mr. Bessent said that he had spoken with Mr. Pulte, who is the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and that he looked forward to working with him both on housing matters and on “several pressing issues on Iran.”
The Treasury secretary’s public endorsement of Mr. Pulte comes after the two men clashed last September. At a kickoff dinner at the Executive Branch, a members-only club in Georgetown started by the president’s eldest son and a few of his allies, Mr. Bessent confronted Mr. Pulte for allegedly trash-talking him to the president.
Asked on Wednesday by Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, if it was true that Mr. Bessent threatened to punch Mr. Pulte in the face, Mr. Bessent corrected the record.
“I actually said I was going to kick his ass,” Mr. Bessent said.
The Treasury secretary then suggested that he and Mr. Pulte had since put aside their differences.
“Many teams have fights in the locker room and then go out and win for the team on the field,” Mr. Bessent said.
Alan Rappeport is an economic policy reporter for The Times, based in Washington. He covers the Treasury Department and writes about taxes, trade and fiscal matters.
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