Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent repeatedly threatened to beat up Trump-appointed housing official Bill Pulte at a MAGA dinner, according to a report.
Politico’s Rachael Bade got the scoop on Wednesday’s cocktail-hour dustup at Washington D.C.’s Executive Branch club from an eyewitness and four others.
Bade cited an unnamed person close to Bessent who said the Cabinet member had heard Pulte was trash-talking him to the president, so he menaced Pulte.
“Why the fuck are you talking to the president about me? Fuck you,” Bessent reportedly told Pulte. “I’m gonna punch you in your fucking face.”
Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images
Peacemaking efforts by club co-owner Omeed Malik resulted in Bessent proposing to Pulte that they “go outside.”
“To do what? To talk?” Pulte reportedly asked.
“No, I’m going to fucking beat your ass,” Bessent replied, per Politico.
Malik eventually separated the men and seated them at opposite ends of the table during the dinner, according to Politico. All parties declined to comment to the outlet. HuffPost has also reached out.
Pulte, the Trump-appointed director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has made headlines recently by accusing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook of mortgage fraud. President Donald Trump eventually fired her, and she has since sued over her dismissal.
Embarrassingly enough for Pulte, his father and stepmother were accused of similar fraud for allegedly claiming more than one property as a primary residence.
The Executive Branch club, co-founded by Donald Trump Jr., raised eyebrows for charging its founding members $500,000 for the promise of a “sumptuous retreat for rubbing shoulders with cabinet members and West Wing officials, with no danger of running into reporters or Democrats,” Axios reported at the time. (The fee for new members to join is now $150,000, plus $15,000 annually, the New York Post reported.)
Sounds like Republicans are having trouble enough running into each other.