President-elect Donald Trump announced Friday evening that investor Scott Bessent will be his nominee for Treasury secretary, picking a campaign trail partner and early frontrunner for the job after a long and contentious process.

Trump called him “one of the World’s foremost International Investors” in his announcement, adding that he is “a strong advocate of the America First agenda.”

Bessent beat out a series of other candidates from former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh to Apollo Global Management (APO) CEO Marc Rowan to cap a drawn-out process that saw candidates’ chances seem to rise and fall by the day. (Disclosure: Yahoo Finance is owned by Apollo Global Management).

Assuming he is indeed nominated and then confirmed, Bessent will face the difficult challenge in the months ahead of simultaneously working to calm US and global markets while also being tasked with selling many of the president-elect’s economic plans.

The issue is that many of those ideas remain unpopular in business world corners — specifically renewed tariffs and, perhaps, increased deficit spending.

In a live Yahoo Finance video appearance earlier on Friday, Hoover Institution fellow Lanhee Chen offered that Trump’s nominee would need to be well-qualified, aligned with his economic agenda, and also serve as “a calming force to markets.”

Then Republican candidate Donald Trump listens as investor Scott Bessent speaks on the economy during a stop in Asheville, N.C. in August. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)
A well-known nominee from the investing world

From the beginning of the process, Bessent was often viewed as the front-runner for the post, but saw his fortunes rise and fall. The former Soros Fund Management investing chief met with Trump multiple times in the weeks following the election after being a regular campaign trail partner of the president-elect.

The race was anything but drama-free, with betting markets have yo-yoing in recent days and Polymarket odds putting three different candidates as the favorite at various points.

Trump ended up settling on the figure who often appeared with him on the campaign trail, citing Bessent’s expertise before rally crowds, specifically the notion that stocks were on the rise because of the prospects of a Trump victory.

Trump described Bessent’s mission Friday as one to help “usher in a new Golden Era for the United States,” including the stopping of trade imbalances.

Bessent is currently the CEO of Key Square Capital Management and made a notably public case for the job since Trump’s victory.

At various points in recent weeks, Bessent was live on the set of Fox and Friends offering “any way I can help,” and appearing with Trump ally Steve Bannon to discuss his vision for the US economy.

He also published op-eds in the Wall Street Journal and on FoxNews.com to discuss issues close to the president-elect.

Bessent has also donated more than $3.1 million to Trump and other Republicans during the recent election season, according to government records.

Evercore ISI in a note to clients this week called Bessent “the investor favorite given his knowledge of macro and markets and his credibility with the bond market.”

A perch of relative stability in Trump’s orbit

During Trump’s first term, the Treasury secretary role was a rare area of relative stability and persistent influence throughout the term, with Steven Mnuchin holding the post for Trump’s entire term even as turnover at the White House and other Cabinet agencies was rampant.

Mnuchin, who was succeeded by current Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, also found himself at the center of an array of issues, notably the negotiations that led to the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Many provisions of that law expire at the end of 2025, leaving Bessent to likely assume a central role on the same issue.

The International Criminal Court, ICC has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of war crimes over the war in Gaza.

The court said it had “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu bears criminal responsibility for war crimes including “starvation as a method of warfare” and “the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”

Netanyahu’s office said Israel “utterly rejects the absurd and false actions and accusations.” The move compels ICC members to arrest him but key powers, including Israel’s major ally the US, are not signatories.

The ICC announcement came as the Palestinian death toll from Israel’s war in Gaza rose to more than 44,000 people, according to the health ministry there.

CNN.

Former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration to become attorney general after days of debate over whether to release a congressional report on sexual misconduct allegations against him.

On X, formerly Twitter, the 42-year-old said that the controversy over his potential nomination “was unfairly becoming a distraction” to the work of the incoming Trump administration.

The report included the findings of a probe sparked by allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.

Gaetz has denied the claims but said that he hoped to avoid a “needlessly protracted Washington scuffle.”

The withdrawal of Gaetz – who Donald Trump selected to be the top US law enforcement officer – represents a setback for the president-elect.

On his own Truth Social social media platform, the former and soon-to-be president said he appreciated Gaetz’s effort to become attorney general.

“He was doing very well, but at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the administration, for which he has much respect,” Trump added.

In his post on X, formerly Twitter, Gaetz said that Trump’s justice department “must be in place and ready” on the first day of his administration in January.

“I remain fully committed to see that Donald J Trump is the most successful president in history,” he wrote.

“I will forever be honoured that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I’m certain he will save America,” Gaetz added.

The shadow cast by the long-running investigation by a congressional ethics panel into a number of claims involving drugs, bribes and sex meant that Gaetz was likely to face an uphill battle when it came time to be confirmed by the US Senate.

Lawmakers – including some fellow Senate Republicans – had expressed concern about his nomination, reportedly prompting a significant closed-door effort by him and Trump to secure the necessary support.

The day before his withdrawal, the House Ethics Committee – which compiled the report – met behind closed doors to debate whether or not it should release the report into Gaetz.

The committee’s ranking Democrat, Susan Wild, said that the group had not been able to come to an agreement and was evenly divided, 5-5, on party lines.

Its chairman, Michael Guest, told reporters on Thursday that his withdrawal “should end the discussion of whether or not the ethics committee should move forward in his matter.”

“He is no longer a member of Congress, and so I think that this settles any involvement that the ethics committee should have in any matters involving Mr Gaetz,” he said.

Gaetz resigned from his House seat last week after Trump nominated him to become attorney general.

It is unclear whom Trump will nominate in his place.

The allegations stem, in part, from a woman’s claims that she attended a 2017 party with him and witnessed the then-congressman having sex with a minor.

The woman’s lawyer later said that the woman, as well as another witness, were paid by Gaetz to have sex with him.

A separate three-year federal sex trafficking investigation into Gaetz ended with no charges brought against him.

Will Matt Gaetz return to Congress?

It is unclear what will come next for Gaetz, who provided no detail on his future plans in his announcement.

President-Elect Trump said only that he has a “wonderful future” and will do “great things”.

Experts have suggested that it is unlikely that Gaetz would try to return to the House – where he was re-elected to his seat in the November election – as it would mean that the Ethics Committee report could be made public.

Senior Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, have used his resignation as justification to avoid publishing the committee’s findings.

But he could return to the Capitol in the upper chamber. Florida’s Governor, Ron DeSantis, could appoint him to a vacant seat that is likely to be left by Senator Marco Rubio, whom Trump has nominated as his secretary of state.

Gaetz could also lobby for another position in the administration that does not require a Senate confirmation.

Who could replace him as Attorney General nominee?

Moving forward, Trump is likely to pick another attorney general nominee to carry out his agenda at the justice department – which he has described as ending “weaponised government”, protecting US borders, dismantling criminal organisations and restoring Americans’ “badly-shattered faith and confidence” in the department.

On Monday, some of Trump’s congressional allies said they were ready to begin assessing other contenders.

“This provides the president an opportunity to look at other very qualified individuals who can help to revamp the justice department,” South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds was quoted as saying by Politico.

“Probably a number of them would be very acceptable to members of the Senate, who really do want to see the president’s agenda move forward,” he added.

Rounds added that he believes that there was “some information out there that the president was not aware of when he made the original recommendation”.

Among the names so far put forward as possibilities are:

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton
Former Chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Commission Jay Clayton
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey
Utah Senator Mike Lee
Former Office of Management and Budget general counsel Mark Paoletta

Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, told the BBC that “an obvious candidate” would be Todd Blanche, who represented Trump in his New York criminal trial and has already been nominated to serve as deputy attorney general.

Other possibilities include Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares or senior Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton or Josh Hawley.

The latter two have suggested that they would prefer to stay in the Senate.