100 things Scott Bessent said, verbatim, from March 26, 2026 to September 29, 2026, each linked to where it ran. Grouped by the questions at issue, with who supported, disputed, or qualified each one.
Also appeared as: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
67stories
100statements
Sep 29latest entry
Positions
01
The US and China should pursue direct collaboration on AI rather than competition or a unilateral slowdown.
Qualifies
“We want a shared vision of common goals and common threats,”
“For the sake of all humanity, Trump and Xi must negotiate a treaty NOW to pause AI and ban superintelligence before it's too late.”
02
The United States must prioritize beating China in AI development even if that means less caution now.
Supports
“Beating China — there is no day after tomorrow if China wins at this. Like everything, a trillion-and-a-half-dollar defense budget, the Iron Dome. If they were to pull ahead of us on AI, then nothing else matters,”
Jacob Coxon former pretraining researcher at OpenAI and Anthropic Offers another course
“I do hope that the people in China who are looking at the same problems as we are, so they're trying to build the same technology, will come to the same conclusion that it has to be done in a measured manner, and it should be easy to cooperate on some sort of mutual — of mutual slowing,”
Donald Trump President of the United States Supports
“We're leading China in AI, we're the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI, wins”
03
US sanctions and the naval blockade are close to collapsing Iran's government and economy.
Supports
“The Iranian snake, the leadership, they don’t know they’re dead yet, but they are,”
Mahdi Pirsalehi Head of Iran's Food and Drug Administration Disputes
“The enemy has identified medicine as one of the sensitive areas of the country, and is trying to denigrate and portray Iran’s conditions as unfavourable by releasing content in the press and social media,”
04
Trump's Iran campaign aims to topple the Iranian government through a popular uprising.
Disputes
“The goal here isn’t necessarily to collapse the regime,”
Sina Toossi senior non-resident fellow, Center for International Policy Disputes
his latest attempt to force Iran into submission could leave the US with even higher energy prices, an even more confrontational adversary and yet another escalation it never counted on.
“President Trump has decimated Iran’s economy to a point where the rial has never been weaker and inflation has rarely been higher. The regime’s final refuge now lies in the self-deception of fearful nations that still believe accommodating aggression can secure a durable peace,” Bessent wrote.”
on Iran's economic collapse and pressuring holdout nations to cut ties
“This is going to be the greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world, and we are going to them and saying, 'You are either with us or against us. You want this murderous regime to end.'”
“Watch this space for more announcements coming next week because we are going to apply measures like have never been seen in the history of economic isolation on a country”
on planned new economic pressure measures against Iran over Hormuz
“It will be a combination of economic isolation like the world has never seen before, and the continued blockade in the Strait of Hormuz that will keep anything from going in or out of the Iranian ports,”
“It will be a combination of economic isolation the world has never seen before, and the continued blockade in the Strait of Hormuz that will keep anything from going in or out of the Iranian ports,”
“In line with the ongoing productive talks in Switzerland, Iran has committed to free and open transit in the Strait of Hormuz and to permit International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors into their country,”
“the Iranian currency was on the verge of collapse… President Trump ordered… maximum pressure on Iran. And it’s worked, because in December, their economy collapsed... and this is why the people took to the street. This is economic statecraft.”
on Trump's sanctions pressure driving Iran's currency collapse and protests
“what we have done is created a dollar shortage in the country… The Iranian currency went into free fall, inflation exploded, and hence we have seen the Iranian people out on the street.”
on US sanctions causing a dollar shortage and inflation in Iran
“We have spent decades developing the world's most sophisticated financial counterterrorism capabilities, and now we are mobilizing some of the same tools that we have deployed against terrorists abroad to confront this emerging threat here at home,”
on using financial counterterrorism tools against domestic political violence
“Iran has committed to free and open transit in the Strait of Hormuz and to permit International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors into their country”
on Iran's Strait transit and IAEA inspection agreements
“Trump Accounts represent the triumph of capitalism over socialism. Through Trump Accounts, our president is creating an ownership economy where all citizens become shareholders in America’s wealth,”
on Trump Accounts as a government-seeded ownership investment program
“No stake in the companies they help to build; little share in the wealth they help to create. Trump Accounts represent a profound reimagining of that arrangement.”
“The ‘extraordinary’ monetary policy tools unleashed after the 2008 financial crisis have similarly transformed the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy regime, with unpredictable consequences.”
“Over the past 10 years, I have written more than 20,000 words opining on the Federal Reserve decisions, personnel, structure, and modifications. Nowhere have I ever mentioned this ridiculous notion,”
on denying he proposed restructuring the Federal Reserve
“admirable how the Bank of England conducts large-scale asset purchases during financial crises and other times of systemic stress, and how they stop their interventions after smooth market functioning has been restored.”
on praising the Bank of England's approach to crisis asset purchases
“As we saw during the covid pandemic, when lab-created experiments escape their confines, they can wreak havoc in the real world. Once released, they cannot easily be put back into the containment zone,”
on Bessent likening leaked Fed plans to a lab experiment escaping containment
“The Governor’s letters to the Chancellor have proven to be a useless and perfunctory device. There is much to be said about the storied Bank of England, but any recreation of its operating framework on this side of the Atlantic has never been contemplated.”
on Bessent dismissing comparisons between the Fed and the Bank of England
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are on a path toward unprecedented economic growth, lasting dollar dominance and fiscal strength and stability,”
on Treasury placing Trump's signature on currency for the nation's 250th anniversary
“But we depend on banks to do what you do best: know your customers, identify risks as they arise, and report suspicious patterns before they metastasize into criminal schemes.”
“This administration will not tolerate blatant abuse of our financial system, nor will it permit risks posed by the extension of financial services to illegal aliens.”
“The Trump Administration will not tolerate criminals who exploit government programs for personal gain. Treasury is working with financial institutions and law enforcement to identify these fraud schemes, recover stolen funds, and hold those responsible accountable.”
“Look around our campuses and classrooms today – apart from those here at Wheeler, of course – you will find that our students are being sold the seductive lie that government can solve every problem, redistribute every dollar and supplant its judgment for our own,”
“If you think about it in terms of the valuation, what did they try to do last week? It was, well, there's a chance that, 10 percent chance we could destroy the world, but we want the government to give us a liability shield. And, you know, that's good business for them, bad business for the American people.”
on OpenAI and Anthropic using extinction risk to push for a liability shield
“We think that just like with any cross-border activity, that moving from opaque to more transparency between the number one and the number two AI powers in the world is very important”
“This administration supports open source models, but what we do not support is IP theft. If we see, especially, that overseas models are stealing from our great companies, we have the ability to sanction them because of this theft.”
“In New York, the current mayor rose to power by repackaging failed ideals of the past as a moral cause of the future. But in Georgia, you know that beneath that youthful veneer lies the oldest impulse in politics which is to concentrate power and then to call it compassion.”
“It asks banks to do what they do best: know their customers, identify risk, recognize suspicious patterns, and report illicit activity when they see it.”
“Senator Wyden has mendaciously slandered the Treasury building in an attempt to cover up his son having an investment meeting with Jeffrey Epstein to ask for funding,”
“And we would like to hear what Adam Wyden and Jeffrey Epstein talked about. Your son’s largest investment position was Rick’s Cabaret. So, did your son and Jeffrey Epstein talk about pole dancing as he begged him for money using your limited credibility?”
on questioning a senator's son's ties to Jeffrey Epstein and a strip club investment
“Nobody is interested in the ramblings of a capo in the most corrupt regime in American history; we want to get some facts about this deal. That’s what we’re here for,”
on dismissing a hearing witness tied to a corrupt regime
“As Treasury secretary, I only have two mandates — the currency has to say ‘In God we trust’ somewhere on it, and we cannot have an image of a living person,”
on Treasury's rules for the new $100 bill and coin featuring Trump
“We will dismantle the networks that sustain political terrorism, however respectable their fronts may be. We will pursue those who enable political violence, however distant their jurisdictions.”
on vowing to dismantle networks behind political terrorism amid a leftist crackdown