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The decision over who will be tapped to head Treasury has been hung up as Trump's transition co-chair Howard Lutnick and hedge fund executive Scott Bessent compete for the president-elect's attention, according to three people familiar with the discussions.
One major factor that's delayed the decision is the amount of control Lutnick has exerted in determining what information flows up to the president-elect, two of the sources said. Bessent is meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Friday, the Washington Post reported.
The jockeying between Lutnick, the head of New York investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, and Bessent, a former George Soros protege who now leads his own hedge fund, has left Treasury as one of the biggest remaining question marks in the Trump 2.0 cabinet.
The Treasury secretary is a powerful position whose jurisdiction includes financial markets, the issuance of U.S. debt, economic national security matters, tax policy and the strength of the dollar. Donald Trump’s choice for the job is also expected to have a hand in selecting other top positions with a say in setting economic policy and Wall Street regulation.
Bessent, the founder of the investment firm Key Square Group, had widely been viewed as the frontrunner until Lutnick began to make his own case to lead Treasury, according to the people. Lutnick’s empire includes Cantor Fitzgerald as well as FMX Futures, which is a new competitor to the exchange behemoth CME Group.
But Bessent, who was little known in Washington policy circles prior to the campaign, gained prominence on the national stage after emerging as one of Trump’s top economic advisers. The former chief investor for Soros's company has assuaged the concerns of some far-right Trump loyalists — including Steve Bannon and Roger Stone — while maintaining connections with Wall Street traditionalists.
Three people familiar with the transition say the door is still open for another candidate, such as former National Economic Council Director and Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, who remains close to the president.
Other contenders who are said to be in consideration include Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s former U.S. Trade Representative, former Goldman Sachs executive and Trump adviser Gary Cohn, and Marc Rowan, the head of Apollo Global Management.
“President-Elect Trump is making decisions on who will serve in his second Administration. Those decisions will be announced when they are made,” transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Lutnick’s role as one of Trump’s advisers on the transition has provided him with more access to the president-elect than other Treasury candidates as speculation mounted about his emergence as a top contender for the role. Meanwhile, Bessent has embarked on a media campaign that included appearances on Fox News and Bannon’s podcast, as well as an op-ed defending the use of tariffs that was published on Fox’s website on Friday morning.
One source said Bessent’s frequent appearances in the media were indicative of how difficult it has been to capture Trump’s attention as Lutnick helped the president with policy and personnel decisions. Lutnick allies say the Cantor CEO hasn’t been in a position to run a public campaign because of his role at the helm of the transition.
Bessent, Lutnick and Kudlow did not respond to requests for comment.
