House Dems Grill Treasury Secretary On Fight With Elon Musk: He ‘Body-Checked You!’
Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) ribbed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Wednesday over recent reports that he and Elon Musk had a physical altercation in the White House.
Gomez began his questioning, “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, how are you doing?”
Bessent replied, “So far, so good.”
Gomez added, “Okay. I was just curious, because I know Elon Musk body-checked you at the White House. No animosity to Elon Musk, right?”
Bessent shot back, “You know that?”
Gomez replied with a smile, “That’s what I heard.”
Bessent took it in stride and replied, “So you believe what you read on Breitbart is what you’re telling us, Congressman.”
Gomez jabbed back, “I didn’t know if it was too sensitive for you. I won’t ask that question, but let me move on.”
“I will take South Carolina over South Africa any day,” Bessent joked, refering to Musk’s home country.
Gomez then turned to his actual questions, “Mr. Secretary, you believe that people should be judged on their merit, correct?”
Bessent replied, “Yes, sir.”
Gomez continued, “You believe people should be judged on their job performance, correct?”
Bessent, “Yes, sir.”
Gomez added, “Okay, just want to make sure. And the reason why is that one of the first things this administration promised to do was to lower taxes, not lower taxes, lower the cost of living on day one. So let’s get into that. On June 1st, Mr. Secretary, you said in regards to tariffs that they’re having there have been no significant price increases, and concerns are overstated. Listen, I get it. For somebody that’s worth $521 million. Listen, no significant tariffs are not going to impact you. But I want to talk about working-class people. People in my district and across the country are impacted by tariffs.”
The line of questioning ended with a tense exchange over the economy, and resulted in Committee Chair Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) reminding committee members to stick to policy and avoid personal questions.
Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) also grilled Bessent about Musk and asked him if he ever called Musk a “fraud” — to which Bessent replied, “fake news.”
Watch the clip above.
