Evening Report

© Greg Nash

Trump Cabinet picks' wealth draws Dem scrutiny

DEMOCRATS ARE TAKING AIM at the accumulated wealth of President-elect Trump’s Cabinet nominees, a sign they may be shifting their focus to class politics after racial politics dominated Trump’s first term.

Several Democratic senators Thursday grilled Scott Bessent, the billionaire money manager Trump picked to lead the Treasury Department, about his own personal wealth and how that would affect his policies.

Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, accused Bessent of planning to wage a “class war” against ordinary Americans.

“The ultimate distillation of the Trump agenda is paying for tax breaks for the top by increasing child hunger, booting tens of millions off their health insurance and laying off hundreds of thousands of manufacturing workers,” Wyden said.

This comes a day after President Biden warned in his final Oval Office address of a new American oligarchy led by the billionaire tech executives that are either actively working with the incoming Trump administration or have shifted to the right since Trump’s election victory.

Bessent is one of at least a dozen people Trump has tapped for his Cabinet or top government positions whose wealth is in the hundreds of millions or billions.

“Do you think that when so few people have so much wealth, and so much economic and political power, that is an oligarchic society?” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) asked Bessent.

Bessent responded, saying Biden last week gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to some who would qualify as oligarchs, including liberal mega-donor George Soros.

A Bloomberg analysis found the 100 wealthiest Americans became $1.5 trillion richer over the past four years.

Democrats found some common ground with Bessent.

Sanders urged him to support Trump’s 10 percent cap on credit card interest rates, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) agreed to work with him to eliminate the debt limit.

TECH EXECS CLUSTER AROUND TRUMP

Some of the wealthiest and most powerful tech executives in the world are seeking to align themselves with Trump, after many clashed with him during his first term.

• Semafor reports that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and President Brad Smith had lunch with Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance and Elon Musk at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday.

• Politico reports Google CEO Sundar Pichai will get a prime seat at Trump’s inauguration, alongside Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will not attend the inauguration.

• Also attending the inauguration, according to The New York Times: TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.

The Supreme Court will rule soon on whether the U.S. TikTok ban goes through as scheduled on Jan. 19.

Biden signed the divest-or-ban law, citing national security concerns around the Chinese Communist Party’s data harvesting and social influence campaigns.

Republicans believe Trump will “find a way” to save TikTok, believing the........

© The Hill