Moment liberal MSNBC star reveals he is 'conflicted' over openly gay Trump Treasury pick Scott Bessent

MSNBC star Jonathan Capehart has confessed that he feels conflicted that Donald Trump chose an openly-gay man as his pick to lead the Treasury Department.

Capehart, who is also gay, shared on Sunday that he feels torn about Scott Bessent's nomination because the hedge fund executive would be the highest-ranking openly gay government official ever.

'You know if confirmed, he would be the highest ranking out LGBT person ever to serve — to be appointed and confirmed by the United States Senate,' Capehart

'And I said, you know, kind of conflicted about it.'

Guest Jon Reinish, a Democratic strategist, then stepped in, saying: 'In that case, credit where it's due...

'It is very interesting, yes, that is Trump and not one of our team that made that historic nomination.'

President-elect Trump announced the money manager as his pick to run the Treasury on Friday.

Bessent is a past supporter of Democrats who has become an enthusiastic supporter of Trump. He’s an advocate of cutting spending while extending the tax cuts approved by Congress in Trump’s first term. 

He has been married to former prosecutor John Freeman since 2011 and they have two sons. 

Before becoming a Trump donor and adviser, Bessent donated to various Democratic causes in the early 2000s, notably Al Gore’s presidential run. He also worked for George Soros, a major supporter of Democrats. 

Bessent, 62, would be the first openly LGBTQ Senate-confirmed cabinet member in a Republican administration.

In 2020, Trump named Richard Grenell, who is openly gay, acting director of national intelligence. However, the role was not subject to Senate confirmation.

Pete Buttigieg is the first openly LGBT Senate-confirmed Cabinet member, nominated by President Joe Biden to lead the transportation department. 

In 2015, Bessent told the Yale Alumni Magazine: 'If you had told me in 1984, when we graduated, and people were dying of AIDS, that 30 years later I’d be legally married and we would have two children via surrogacy, I wouldn’t have believed you.'

Bessent follows other financial luminaries who have taken the job, including former Goldman Sachs executives Robert Rubin, Hank Paulson and Steven Mnuchin, Trump's first Treasury chief.

Janet Yellen, the current secretary and first woman in the job, previously chaired the Federal Reserve and White House Council of Economic Advisers.

As the 79th Treasury secretary, Bessent would essentially be the highest-ranking U.S. economic official, responsible for maintaining the plumbing of the world's largest economy, from collecting taxes and paying the nation's bills to managing the $28.6-trillion Treasury debt market and overseeing financial regulation, including handling and preventing market crises.

The Treasury boss also runs U.S. financial sanctions policy, oversees the U.S.-led International Monetary Fund, World Bank and other international financial institutions, and manages national security screenings of foreign investments in the U.S.

Writing on Truth Social making the announcement, Trump explained Bessent's credentials.

'I am most pleased to nominate Scott Bessent to serve as the 79th Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. Scott is widely respected as one of the World's foremost International Investors and Geopolitical and Economic Strategists,' Trump began.

'Scott's story is that of the American Dream. Scott has long been a strong advocate of the America First Agenda. On the eve of our Great Country's 250th Anniversary, he will help me usher in a new Golden Age for the United States, as we fortify our position as the World's leading Economy, Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurialism, Destination for Capital, while always, and without question, maintaining the U.S. Dollar as the Reserve Currency of the World,' Trump wrote.