Congress
The mad scramble to be Trump’s Treasury secretary
Donald Trump’s political revival was fueled by a populist economic message that hit home with an electorate weary of Biden-era high prices and interest rates. Now the president-elect is having a hard time picking a quarterback to run his economic game plan.
Nearly two weeks after Election Day — and after a flurry of high-profile Cabinet picks that blindsided Washington policymakers and industry leaders — Trump has yet to name his pick for who will lead the Treasury Department. Fighting between Trump world factions that support transition co-chair Howard Lutnick and hedge fund executive Scott Bessent has spilled into public view.
Two sources told Blue Light News on Sunday that the president has grown frustrated by the jockeying between the two top candidates, and his delay in making a selection has lifted the odds of one of the other rumored contenders like Trump’s longtime trade policy adviser Robert Lighthizer, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan emerging as a spoiler. The New York Times on Sunday night reported that former Federal Reserve Gov. Kevin Warsh is also now in the running and that certain candidates may be asked to interview this week.
“President-Elect Trump is making decisions on who will serve in his second administration. Those decisions will continue to be announced by him when they are made,” transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
The infighting has thrown into question who will ultimately be tasked with a powerful job jurisdiction which includes financial markets, the issuance of U.S. debt, economic national security matters, tax policy and the strength of the dollar. Other key economic posts, including director of Trump’s National Economic Council, Commerce Secretary and U.S. Trade Representative, also remain unfilled.
Bessent, the CEO of Key Square Group and a frequent Trump campaign surrogate, had been widely viewed as the front-runner for Treasury after Election Day. Sources close to the transition say that Trump’s selection process was slowed as Lutnick exerted tight control over what information is presented to the president-elect, which created challenges for Bessent — or other candidates — to deliver their own pitch. Bessent met with the president at Mar-a-Lago on Friday.
Elon Musk, the unpredictable founder of Tesla and a top adviser to Trump, entered the fray over the weekend, arguing that Lutnick would be a stronger pick for the role. Bessent represented the “business-as-usual choice,” Musk posted on X, the social media network he purchased two years ago. “Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt, so we need change one way or another.” He later added that he was open to hearing more about Bessent, and the two reportedly spoke before Musk joined Trump ringside at a UFC match on Saturday night.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s choice to lead Health and Human Services, injected the incoming president’s crypto policy agenda into the mix with a post on X about how bitcoin would “have no stronger advocate than Howard Lutnik [sic].”
Meanwhile, Bessent’s allies on Wall Street were campaigning as well, arguing that the macro hedge fund CEO’s solid understanding of markets would help the president execute his policies without causing undue disruptions to financial markets or the broader economy.
“I’ve known Scott for almost forty years, as he was my first professional hire at Chanos & Co.,” Jim Chanos, the famed short-seller, told Blue Light News. “While we might disagree on politics, there is no questioning his character, patriotism and intellect. He would make an outstanding Treasury Secretary.”
The Financial Times on Sunday reported that Trump advisers have sought assurances from the top candidates that they “are committed to his sweeping tariffs plans.” The story included a detail about how Lighthizer — a tariff hardliner who served as Trump’s trade representative during the first administration — “had previously expressed interest in becoming Treasury secretary.”
Adam Hamilton raised $10.6 million in the third quarter of 2026 across his Senate campaign and his joint fundraising committees, his campaign tells Blue Light News, a significant haul for the Kansas Democrat.
The fundraising total illustrates Democrats’ newfound bullishness about flipping a Senate seat in the deep-red state for the first time since 1932.
“This grassroots support sends a clear message: with three weeks until Election Day, Adam Hamilton is building the momentum to win,” said Hamilton campaign spokesperson Tyson Brody.
Hamilton’s third-quarter figure is nearly triple his $3.66 million second-quarter total. His campaign did not provide a current cash-on-hand total.
National Democrats began pumping money into Kansas in recent days, a sign of their growing hopes that Hamilton could win. Last week, Senate Majority PAC — Senate Democrats’ top super PAC — reserved $5 million in television ads backing Hamilton. American Bridge PAC and Lower Costs Now, a new group affiliated with former Vice President Kamala Harris’ super PAC, have spent in Kansas in recent weeks.
Republicans have also flocked to Kansas to prop up Marshall: Senate Leadership Fund, the Senate GOP’s top PAC, has spent or reserved nearly $11 million backing Marshall in the past week, according to tracking firm AdImpact.
“It took us five months to raise $15 million. [Marshall] got it in a day,” Hamilton said at a campaign event in Lawrence, Kansas on Monday. “So please help us.”
Marshall’s campaign has yet to release his third-quarter fundraising totals. As of mid-July, Marshall had over $5 million in the bank to $1.73 million for Hamilton.
A bipartisan Senate duo is urging Trump national security officials to “bring its full capacities to bear” to stave off threats posed by artificial intelligence — sooner rather than later.
Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, and Republican South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, who serves on the Senate Armed Services cybersecurity subcommittee, are calling for a full government response to a growing number of cybersecurity breaches.
“Recent AI security incidents should serve as a warning,” the senators wrote in a Tuesday letter to Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton and White House Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios. “Advanced AI agents have escaped testing environments, bypassed safeguards, and gained unauthorized access to real-world systems owned by government agencies and private organizations.”
Spokespeople for Clayton and Kratsios did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Their letter comes as lawmakers struggle to hash out what legislation on AI safety, if any, might look like. Members are currently in recess ahead of the November elections and there’s little hope progress can be made by the year’s end.
But those lawmakers who have been engaged on the topic for years now have mapped out administrative actions the Trump administration could move on now, without waiting on Congress.
The Cantwell and Rounds priorities include: strengthening federal AI safety and security standards at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST; expanding independent testing capabilities at the Center for Advancing Innovation and Standards for Super Intelligence, Department of Energy and the national labs; and working with the tech industry to develop and deploy defensive AI tools.
Specifically, the senators wrote, new NIST standards should address the risks posed by advanced AI capabilities, including the “potential misuse by malicious actors” to conduct sophisticated cyberattacks, automate attacks at scale and agents that threaten external systems and critical infrastructure.
They also said the federal government capacity should be complemented by universities and other research organizations, as well as by private sector, third-party evaluators.
Finally, they point to ways the government could use existing programs at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to work with AI labs to help detect threats and reinforce vulnerable systems.
A bipartisan group of senators urged President Donald Trump to rescind his recent diesel deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, amid bubbling anger on Capitol Hill about Trump’s announcement.
In a letter sent to the White House, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the senators warned that the president’s deal with Russia will not “achieve just ends” or benefit Americans.
“Granting Moscow the ability to sell Russian diesel freely in global markets damages American security interests and is a betrayal of the people of Ukraine, who continue to defend themselves from Putin’s murderous, illegal war,” wrote the lawmakers, led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). “This deal is a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies; it should be rescinded.”
On Sunday, a smaller group of senators called on the president to “immediately reverse course” on the plan in a statement. Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — who signed on to both — said Sunday there may be “a legitimate case for saying the president’s not following the law.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump announced in a social media post on Friday that Russia would “immediately supply” diesel fuel to global markets — including potentially the U.S. — to help relieve high prices driven, in part, by the ongoing war with Iran. Though Trump has repeatedly defended the U.S.’s actions against Iran, on Saturday he demanded an end to Ukrainian drone strikes that have crippled Russian oil refineries that he argues have caused the record-high oil prices.
The senators on Tuesday argued that the deal with Russia will have a “negligible impact” on fuel prices while providing Putin with “more fuel to finance his war machine” as Russia continues its “brutal attacks on Ukrainian civilians.”
The deal with Russia is a sharp pivot from a sweeping sanctions package signed into law last month. That legislation — championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) — was meant to deplete Moscow’s resources by targeting Russian officials, banks and a shadow fleet of oil tankers. It drew widespread bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress.
Senators on Tuesday referenced the package as they condemned Putin as a “tyrant.”
“For decades, America has stood as the bastion of freedom against tyranny, and American presidents have embodied our nation’s resistance to tyrants. Putin is a tyrant,” the letter reads. “Withdraw from this agreement, rescind General License No. 135, and execute the authorities provided under the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. Maintain our legacy – and the duty America holds – as leader of the free world.”
In addition to Blumenthal and Tillis, Tuesday’s letter was signed by Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Jack Reed (R.I.), and Chris Coons (Del.) and Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Susan Collins (Maine), Alan Armstrong (Okla.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and John Cornyn (Texas).
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