Scott Bessent shreds WSJ with cutting barb after Laura Ingraham asks about reported rage issues
Por Rhian Lubin — – World RSS Feed
Scott Bessent shreds WSJ with cutting barb after Laura Ingraham asks about reported rage issues
Bessent said he was ‘a great employer’ and claimed that the allegations were based on ‘two disgruntled employees’
Rhian Lubin in New York Thursday 08 October 2026 17:35 BST
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tore into the Wall Street Journal after the outlet published a report detailing how he regularly loses his temper at employees.
Bessent was asked about the report by Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who likened the Journal’s reporting to a “TMZ article.”
The financial outlet’s report was based on accounts from more than 30 former and current Treasury staffers. It reported that Bessent spat in his food in a rage and, in a separate incident, the secretary picked up a binder full of papers and hurled it at a wall after he became angry about the way his daily briefing book was organized.
“Have you ever thrown a binder at a wall, Mr. Secretary?” Ingraham asked Bessent on Wednesday’s show.
“Absolutely not,” Bessent replied. “The Wall Street Journal is a shadow of its former self, and I think it’s a disgrace for you to say that they’re like TMZ…TMZ do a good job of what they do.”
open image in galleryIngraham followed up by asking him, “But what’s the problem here?” and said that she was also “tough” at work with “high standards.”
Bessent described himself as “tough but fair” and claimed that the negative stories in the Journal’s reporting were based on “two disgruntled employees.”
“There were two disgruntled employees versus the 28 who told them that I’m a great employer,” he said. “We have some great employees that come to work every day just like the American people and they want to work hard.”
Bessent also praised workers in his team that he said come in at 6 in the morning and leave at 10 p.m.
“With President Trump’s leadership, I am trying to push the government to do what the private sector does and to do what everyday Americans do,” he continued. “Come in, work hard, do your job, and push the country forward.”
Bessent’s tough management style has led to staffers reportedly trading advice on how to handle the secretary’s mood before they meet with him, while others described feeling relieved when he was not in the office, according to the Journal.
Some told the outlet that Bessent’s behavior “was a factor in the departure of multiple key officials” during his tenure.
open image in galleryBut President Donald Trump has told advisers that he likes Bessent’s “feisty public persona,” according to the newspaper.
A Treasury spokesperson did not directly address the reports of Bessent’s temper when reached for comment, but said the secretary “approaches the job with a deep sense of responsibility and urgency” after working in “some of the most demanding roles in global finance.”
“He has high expectations of the United States Treasury’s performance because the American people deserve the best outcomes,” the spokesperson previously told The Independent.
The White House also defended Bessent in a statement to the newspaper, and touted “the level of professionalism and accountability” he has brought to the Treasury as “one of the great accomplishments of this administration.”
Reports of Bessent’s hot temper first emerged early in Trump’s second term, when he had a physical altercation with Elon Musk.
Bessent and the world’s richest man, who for six months oversaw the now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency, got into what observers described as a professional wrestling-style shouting match over who would be placed in charge of the Internal Revenue Service.
Since then, he has confronted Bill Pulte at a private dinner in 2025, reportedly “physically threatening” him, and clashed with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at an event last year, according to the Journal.
Bessent “enjoys cultivating a tough-guy image,” former Treasury officials told the newspaper, and has found reports of the altercations “humorous.”
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Scott BessentWall Street JournalLaura IngrahamDonald Trump
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