Scott Bessent Threatened Bill Pulte at a Party — Why Are the Girlies Fighting?

In-fighting in politics is not very unusual. Not only do people within a political party disagree quite often, but it's actually healthy to question someone with whom you generally align. If you can't find it in you to critique your peers, you might be in a cult. The kind of arguing we are referring to typically involves a heated exchange that doesn't get physical, until it does.

Wikipedia has devoted an entire entry to these kinds of brawls and escalations titled legislative violence. It's a global affair. In the United States, the earliest known incident dates back to February 1798, when one member of Congress attacked another with a walking stick in the House of Representatives. More than 220 years later, two members of President Trump's administration nearly got into fisticuffs at a birthday party. Why did Scott Bessent try to fight Bill Pulte? Here's what we know.

According to Politico, things got crazy at a birthday party for MAGA podcaster Chamath Palihapitiya. The event was held Sept. 3 at Executive Branch, a new club in Georgetown, an affluent part of Washington, D.C. Executive Branch was by and for all of President Trump's monstrously wealthy friends and colleagues.

More than 30 guests were assembled at one enormous table, and included some of the president's favorite cronies. Folks like Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard were in attendance.

Bessent was reportedly told that Pulte was badmouthing him to the president. "Why the f--k are you talking to the president about me?" Bessent screamed at Pulte before threatening to punch the Federal Housing Finance Agency director in the face. Pulte didn't immediately respond, but Executive Branch owner Omeed Malik tried to smooth things over. That's when Bessent told Pulte they could go outside. "To do what?" asked Pulte. "To talk?" Bessent expressed an interest in beating Pulte's a--.

According to The Washington Post, Bessent and former head of DOGE Elon Musk got into it in April 2025 over who should be the acting IRS commissioner. After the president decided to go with Bessent's choice, the Secretary of the Treasury got into it with Musk outside of the Oval Office. Steve Bannon told the outlet that he heard Bessent call Musk a "total fraud." Musk then allegedly ran his shoulder into Bessent's chest "like a rugby player," said Bannon.

Bessent supposedly hit Musk back, which is when several people stepped in to break up the skirmish. Musk was ushered out of the West Wing. When President Trump heard about the fight, he simply said that it was "too much." It kind of seems like Bessent might be a bit of a hot head, which is not the kind of temperament one looks for in a person advising the president on anything.