Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent FIRES BACK at ABC’s Martha Raddatz — Shreds Her Schumer Shutdown Narrative

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent absolutely eviscerated ABC host Martha Raddatz’s attempt to peddle the tired Democrat narrative on the ongoing Schumer shutdown.

During an interview on This Week, Raddatz pressed Bessent with a sob story about suffering federal employees hitting food banks, pressing Bessent on whether the President should bother meeting with Democrats again.

But Bessent wasn’t having any of it. He fired back with unassailable facts, reminding Americans who’s really holding the nation hostage.

Martha Raddatz:
And today is day 26. I know you have been over there, but there has been a government shutdown here. People are suffering. Federal employees are starting to go to food banks. Any light at the end of the tunnel on that? Should the President be meeting with Democrats again?

Scott Bessent:
What good does it do, Martha? They’ve dug in. The American people are hostage to Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries’ poll numbers. Because what’s changed between now and the last time there was a clean continuing resolution is Chuck Schumer has tanked in the polls. Both of the two guys from Brooklyn, as I call them, are worried about being primaried from the left.

Bessent went on to remind viewers that Republicans have voted 11 times to reopen the government, while Democrats, led by Schumer and Jeffries, continue to hold the nation hostage for political gain.

Scott Bessent:
Fifty-two Republican senators have voted eleven times to reopen the government. Three brave, moderate Democrats have come across the aisle. So I call on moderate Democratic senators to end this craziness. You’ll be heroes.

Because, Martha, what I can tell you is—we managed to find the money in the middle of October to pay our brave service members, and I think we’ll be able to do it on November 1st. But we’re going to be out of money on November 15th, and for our military not to get paid is a disgrace.

The other thing that’s happening is this is starting to eat into the economy—starting to slow the economy—and we’re also starting to see there’s a problem with air traffic control. So it’s beginning to slow down our nation’s travel.

But Raddatz tried to flip the script and couldn’t resist pushing the tired blame-Republicans trope. Bessent wasn’t having it.

Martha Raddatz:
But Secretary Bessent, I should add that the President’s party—your party—controls the White House and both chambers of Congress. You don’t think you bear any responsibility for this?

Scott Bessent:
Martha, what can we do? What can we do for this desperate act? We can call on them to change their minds. Because I can tell you—the $1.5 trillion in spending that they’re calling for—that’s not on the table.

We inherited a mess. We inherited the worst budget deficit-to-GDP ratio when we weren’t in a recession and we weren’t at war. It was 6.4%, 6.5%. We’ve managed to bring that down to 5.9%, and we’re not going to let them be irresponsible with the budget again.

WATCH:

BREAKING: ABC just tried to ‘gotcha’ Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent and he didn’t take ANY of her BS!

ABC: You’re over there. But here, there is a government shutdown. People are SUFFERING. Should Trump meet with Democrats?!

BESSENT: Well, what GOOD does it do, Martha?! They’ve… pic.twitter.com/4UOz0Di6L8

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 26, 2025