Top Trump Official Squirms When Faced With Prez’s Own Words

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had a rocky moment at a Senate hearing on Wednesday after Sen. Maggie Hassan confronted him with President Donald Trump’s dismissive comments about Americans’ costs. Pressed on gas, groceries, utilities and other essentials, Be

Wednesday’s Senate hearing turned sharply personal for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, as Sen. Maggie Hassan confronted him with what she said was President Donald Trump’s disregard for the financial squeeze Americans are feeling.

Hassan brought the fight to the core of daily life—gas, groceries and utilities. “Do you think about how the American people are paying more for gas. groceries and utilities. since the president clearly said he didn’t?” she asked. pointing to Trump’s remark that Americans’ finances weren’t a concern of his when he was questioned about ending his unpopular Iran war.

Bessent, who has said he speaks with the president regularly, didn’t get an easy pass. Hassan kept pushing: “You speak with the president regularly — are you trying to tell him the truth about how much costs have increased for the American people?”

Instead of backing away, Bessent moved to challenge Hassan’s numbers directly. He held up a printout of a recent social media post from Trump, who had shared a claim that “TRUMP’S MAKING FOOD AFFORDABLE” alongside questionable data on select grocery store items that haven’t soared in price.

“Well, Senator, I’m going to have to disagree with you on some of that, because I have groceries are going down,” Bessent said—despite Hassan’s focus on the fact that the largest one-month leap in grocery prices in about four years occurred in April.

Hassan then pressed again with precision, forcing the conversation back to what the public is paying. “And to be clear, since President Trump took office, food price — food, food prices, or as many people like to call them, groceries, food at home in the statistical data, is up 2.5%.”

Hassan didn’t let the exchange drift into abstract debate. “When’s the last time you were in a grocery store?” she asked.

Bessent replied, and the clip of the back-and-forth quickly spread, with the exchange resurfacing under the question Hassan posed: “When is the last time you were in a grocery store?”

Hassan broadened the pressure after that moment. She said the average person living in New Hampshire has paid “$3,000 more” for basic goods and services since Trump’s return to office. She also tied the cost pressure to a job hit, saying America lost 100,000 manufacturing jobs last year.

“So do you tell the president this information or not?” Hassan asked.

Bessent responded by leaning on the administration’s framing. He argued that aside from inflation, or what he called a “short-term blip,” data on the U.S. economy was “very strong.” Hassan then used that line—directly and pointedly—to make her own point land.

“Neither you nor the president nor this administration are willing to acknowledge how much more people are paying at the gas pump, at the grocery store, in utilities, for health care, for all aspects of American life,” she said after Bessent argued the broader picture was strong.

For Bessent, the hearing ended not with a calm close, but with a challenge still hanging in the air: whether his version of economic reality matches what Americans are experiencing in the places they shop, drive, and pay bills.

Scott Bessent Maggie Hassan Donald Trump Senate hearing Treasury Secretary groceries inflation gas prices utilities manufacturing jobs New Hampshire Iran war