Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took aim at the press Monday, accusing reporters of caring mostly about themselves as he defended President Donald Trump’s ban on CNN, MS NOW, and Politico.
Bessent made the remarks on Monday’s Squawk Box during an interview with CNBC’s Joe Kernen, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit this week. The topic of Trump’s ban came up during the conversation.
Bessent did not hold back on the reporters he deals with. “Some of these reporters, they just don’t do their job well,” he said. “We’ll have something, and then they’ll ask some crazy question.”
Kernen jumped in to defend the media. He noted that Bessent has said he is there for policy and doesn’t want any palace drama, and that Bessent has used terms like “swamp creatures.” Kernen said he understood all of that, but argued that the press can’t be controlled. “The press is going to press, media is going to media,” Kernen said.
Bessent held his ground. “Joe, you know, the one thing I’m sure of, the press cares more about the press than anything else,” he declared.
He pointed to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner as Exhibit A. According to Bessent, “they didn’t come in there to kill the press, they came in to kill the president.” Yet, he said, all anyone heard about afterward was the personal experiences of the press people in the room, “because somehow they were more important.”
Bessent also cited the aircraft in Ankara, where he said the presidential pool was saying, “Oh, we were so vulnerable.” “They were there to kill the president of United States of America!” Bessent said. “And the Secret Service made a decision.”
Bessent said the one thing he is sure of is that this will be covered by the press. He added that he thinks the country could get back to something a little more, as he put it, “fair and balanced,” noting he couldn’t even remember which network that phrase belongs to.
Trump defended the press ban himself in a Truth Social post Monday. “The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish. It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America,” the president wrote.
The president went on to say, “It is corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control. It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!”
Both Bessent and Trump made their case Monday. Bessent’s message on Squawk Box was blunt: in his view, some reporters simply do not do their job well, and the press cares more about the press than anything else. Kernen, for his part, maintained that the press is going to press. The exchange unfolded as Xi’s state visit approaches this week.
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