Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has come under scrutiny over home-loan filings similar to the discrepancies being used by the Trump administration to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.
Weeks after he reportedly threatened to punch top housing finance official Bill Pulte “in the f——- face”, Bessent has been slugged with a mortgage-related punch of his own, after reportedly agreeing to occupy two different houses as his “principal residence” at the same time.
The conflicting agreements, first reported by Bloomberg, are similar to the contradictory pledges that President Donald Trump, with Pulte’s help, has been using to try to oust Cook from her role on the board of the central bank.
And while there’s no evidence of wrongdoing, the case nonetheless demonstrates that discrepancies in home-loan filings do not necessarily amount to mortgage fraud.
As reports emerged about Bessent’s properties, the memory of his exchange with Pulte at a private dinner earlier this month was not lost on some observers, who noted that the federal housing director now gets the last laugh.
PULTE gets his revenge pic.twitter.com/3vBKDNUPxS
— Sam Stein (@samstein) September 17, 2025
“PULTE gets his revenge,” quipped political commentator Sam Stein.
The infamous brawl took place at the Executive Branch, the exclusive new MAGA club co-owned by Donald Trump Jr, during a dinner attended by dozens of Trump administration officials and advisers.
But according to Politico, things got heated when Bessent, who earlier this year famously clashed with Elon Musk, lashed out at Pulte over allegations that the housing director had been bad-mouthing him to Trump.
“Why the f— are you talking to the president about me? F— you,” he was quoted as saying. “I’m gonna punch you in your f——g face.”
However, Bessent played down the reports when asked about them this week, noting that disputes were merely part of policy making.
“Treasury secretaries dating back to Alexander Hamilton have a history of dueling,” he joked on MSNBC’s Squawk Box.
“With President Trump’s team, just like any great sports team, you can argue in the locker room, but we get out in the field and do the best for the President and the American people every day.”
Mortgage filings are nonetheless a sensitive issue for the administration, given the president’s attempt to fire Cook over unproven allegations that she committed mortgage fraud.
The allegation, fueled by an investigation by Pulte, is based on the suggestion that Cook claimed two different properties in Michigan and Georgia as her “primary” residence.
But according to the Bloomberg report, Bessent’s conflicting agreements also obligated him to occupy homes in New York and Massachusetts as his primary residence at the same time in 2007.
Cook, who has denied wrongdoing, scored a victory this week when an appeals court ruled that she could continue to work for the Fed while Trump’s attempt to fire her plays out in court.
This allowed her to sit on the board ahead of today’s crucial decision on interest rates.
However, White House spokesman Kush Desai told The Daily Beast on Wednesday: “The President lawfully removed Lisa Cook for cause. The Administration will appeal this decision and looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”
Both the White House and Pulte’s office have so far declined to comment about Bessent’s mortgage filings.
Meanwhile, Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Bessent, told Bloomberg he couldn’t comment on how Cook’s situation compares with the Treasury Secretary’s because he hadn’t looked into the Federal Governor’s case in detail.
Bessent, however, has been critical of Cook in the past, suggesting she was guilty.
“We haven’t heard her say ‘I didn’t do it.’ She just keeps saying the president can’t remove her,” he told Fox News Mornings with Maria earlier this month.
The post Trump Attack Dog’s ‘Revenge’ on Bessent After Punch in the F****** Face Threat appeared first on The Daily Beast.
