President-elect Donald Trump has chosen billionaire investor Scott Bessent to lead the Treasury Department, The Hill reported.
The move comes as the former and future president wants an increase in tariffs and major shifts in the country’s global trade operations.
Bessent, who’s openly gay, made substantial profits as the founder of hedge fund Key Square Group, and he helped finance Trump’s second campaign after decades of backing Democratic presidential candidates.
Bessent has ties to the Democratic Party and donated to the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Al Gore; however, he has been in the Trump circle for years and is reportedly close to Vice President-elect JD Vance. Before founding his own firm, Bessent worked for billionaire Democratic donor George Soros as his chief investment officer for more than a decade.
According to the AP, Bessent has backed extending provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which Trump signed into law in his first year in office. Bessent also wants spending cuts and shifts in existing taxes to offset the costs that the tax extension would add to the federal deficit.
If confirmed, Bessent, 62—who is married to former New York City prosecutor John Freeman—would make history as the first Senate-confirmed openly LGBTQ+ cabinet member in a Republican administration. He would follow in the steps of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who became the first openly LGBTQ Senate-confirmed Cabinet member three years ago.