Bessent Backs Pulte for DNI Role, Recasting 2025 Threat as Locker Room Fight
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 3
Bessent Backs Pulte for DNI Role, Recasting 2025 Threat as Locker Room Fight
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 3
Summary
At a June 3 Senate Finance hearing, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he supports Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence and wants to work with him on housing and Iran.
Bessent framed their September 2025 clash as a "locker room" fight after acknowledging he had told Pulte he would "kick his ass," not punch him, during a Georgetown club dinner.
That confrontation stemmed from Bessent's belief that Pulte had been trash-talking him to President Trump, souring relations between two senior administration figures.
The dispute resurfaced because Trump has now elevated Pulte from Federal Housing Finance Agency director to the intelligence post, putting renewed focus on both his qualifications and his ties inside the administration.