Trump treasury pick signals new giveaways to the 1%

And despite speculation, former Michigan Congressman Mike Rogers is out as potential head of FBI. 

As markets opened this Monday with an uptick in stock and bond trading, Wall Street appeared excited over the prospect of President-elect Donald Trump’s recent selection for treasury secretary: Hedge fund CEO Scott Bessnet. 

Bessnet, a billionaire who provided both economic advice and substantial financial contributions to Trump’s campaign, is divergent from some of the president-elect’s other loyalty-based selections in that he’s a traditional insider. Indeed, notable MAGA toadie Elon Musk derided the selection of Bessent as a “business-as-usual choice.”

But the potential treasury secretary is very much in line with Trump’s economic philosophy . According to The New York Times, Bessnet won a “knife fight” to get the Treasury nod by pitching Trump on a so-called “3-3-3” economic approach: cutting the deficit by 3%, increasing GDP growth by 3% and incentivizing oil production to reach 3 million barrels per day.

Bessent is also one of the strongest proponents of reviving Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which enriched the country’s billionaires by some $2.2 trillion. 

In a January memo to partners of his Key Square investment firm, Bessnet argued that a second Trump presidency would be highly lucrative for those at the top of the financial sector. All the while downplaying the violent rhetoric of then-candidate Trump. 

“The talk of revenge will likely be limited to a small group of political enemies, and the wider policies of the administration will be oriented toward de-regulation, energy independence, reviving U.S. manufacturing and extending the tax cuts,” Bessnet wrote. 

With the renewal of Trump’s signature tax cuts looming, Bessnet would be a key ally in pushing for a new 10-year lease on the fiscal plan. Should that renewal take place, it would cost the federal government some $4 trillion in income over the next decade. Republicans like Bessent have claimed that the economic growth the tax cuts would encourage will offset such losses, but that was not how things played out during Trump’s first term. 

Instead, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act contributed significantly to the deficit, all while funneling heaps of cash to the country’s financial elite. And with potential cuts to social spending on the horizon, such deficit encouragement could potentially be used to justify austerity. 

That’s why progressive advocates are deriding Bessent’s selection. "America doesn't need a hedge fund executive to lead its economic policymaking, least of all one under the delusion that tax cuts for the rich, rollbacks of public regulatory protections, and an increase in oil drilling is somehow the way to strengthen the nation's economy," Robert Weissman, who heads the consumer protections organization Public Citizen, said in a statement following the announcement of Bessent. 

"This is yet another disastrous cabinet nomination by Donald Trump, and a further indication of the administration's plans for massive giveaways to the superrich and slashing of regulatory safeguards that guarantee the well-being of the American people."

Trump reportedly rules out Mike Rogers for FBI director job

By Richard Eberwein 

Former Michigan Congressman Mike Rogers has been ruled out of the running for Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI.

Dan Scavino, one of Trump’s senior advisors, made an X post on Friday morning suggesting that the former and future president had “never even given it a thought” in appointing Rogers.

Scavino’s post contrasts reporting from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who said on Thursday night her sources believed Rogers was a potential candidate for the job.

Rogers, who recently lost Michigan’s U.S. Senate race to Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D), is a former FBI agent who specialized in organized crime. Trump previously considered Rogers to lead the law enforcement agency in 2017 when he fired James Comey. Rogers was among eight reported candidates and was ultimately beat out by current director Christopher Wray.

Trump has been at odds with Wray for much of the director’s tenure, and he threatened to fire him while he was still president in 2020. After the FBI raided Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago in 2022, Trump vowed to fire Wray if he became president again.

After Rogers’ law enforcement career ended in 1994, he served in the Michigan state Senate from 1995-2001. In 2001, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Michigan’s 8th Congressional District, where he served until 2015. He was also the chair of the House Intelligence Committee for four years.

After his tenure in Congress, Rogers began a career in the private sector. Despite highlighting tough on China rhetoric during his 2024 Senate run, Rogers expanded his personal wealth through business deals with sanctioned Chinese companies like Huawei.