Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday urged the public to empathize with President Donald Trump after he publicly celebrated the death of former special counsel and FBI director Robert Mueller, rather than the family of the deceased, a decorated Marine veteran who served as a public servant for decades.
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Appearing on Sunday’s Meet the Press with Kristen Welker, the host asked Bessent whether President Trump’s “I’m glad he’s dead” post on Saturday was appropriate. It was publicly known that Mr. Mueller died shortly before President Trump’s “Society of Truth” message. Mr. Bessent seemed almost offended by the question. He called out his treatment of Trump and his family and triggered an FBI investigation into Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
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“I was with the president in the waiting room at Davos. [Switzerland] “There was footage of what appeared to be a break-in to his home in Mar-a-Lago. They were going through his wife’s wardrobe,” Bessent said. And I watched the look in his eyes, and I don’t think either of us can understand what was done to the president and his family. ”
Asked whether celebrating Muller’s death was crossing a line, Bessent returned to the same theme.
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“Given what was done to President Trump and his family, I think it’s impossible for both of us to understand what he’s been through,” he said, adding, “I think we should all have some empathy for what was done to him and his family.”
The Mar-a-Lago raid Bessent mentioned was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in August 2022 as part of a Justice Department investigation into President Trump’s retention of classified documents after leaving office. Investigators executed court-approved warrants and recovered classified materials from the compound, an investigation that unfolded years after Mr. Mueller left the government.
Mueller’s investigation, which concluded in 2019, focused on Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign profited from it. At the time of the Mar-a-Lago raid, Mr. Mueller was no longer in government service and had no role in the classified documents case, a point Mr. Welker astutely pointed out during the interview.
The backlash against Trump’s post quickly spread across Washington and beyond. Democratic Representative Sarah McBride of Delaware criticized it as “unconscionable,” while others said it was a complete departure from basic expectations for how public officials talk about the dead, especially decorated veterans. Online, the reaction was even more intense.
Grant Stern, editor-in-chief of Occupy Democrats, reacted to Bessent’s corner with disgust.
“Scott Bessent’s empathic removal surgery was a complete success,” he said. I wrote At X.
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