'Did you lie?': Democrat humiliates Trump's treasury secretary

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, shown last April.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent proved no match for Democratic Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois during a House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. Casten tangled up the aging Howdy Doody impressionist with his own words, citing a letter in which Bessent wrote plainly that “tariffs are inflationary”—which directly contradicted Bessent’s earlier testimony.

Bessent’s efforts to dodge the question made things worse. Cutting through Bessent’s stammering responses, Casten asked, “You said tariffs are inflationary. Do you want to correct what you said to the ranking member, or did you lie?” 

The exchange left Bessent such a bumbling mess that Rep. French Hill of Arkansas, the Republican chair of the committee, had to step in to end Bessent’s humiliation.

This is not the first, second, or hundredth time Bessent has looked like a liar while defending President Donald Trump’s chaotic tariffs. And as Trump’s corruptly conceived economic agenda continues to fail Americans, Bessent will likely have many more opportunities to abase himself in public.