WATCH: Stephanopoulos Melts Down After Scott Bessent Brings Out The Receipts

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clashed with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos during a heated interview on This Week Sunday, leaving the longtime network host frustrated after being confronted with his own past remarks from the Clinton era.

The discussion began with Stephanopoulos pressing Bessent on President Trump’s push to eliminate the Senate filibuster. But what started as a policy debate quickly turned into a tense confrontation when Bessent reminded Stephanopoulos of his own record as a senior adviser in the Clinton White House during the 1995-96 government shutdown.

Bessent argued, “You basically called the Republicans terrorists, and you said that it is not the responsible party that keeps the government closed. So what we need is five brave, moderate Democratic senators to cross the aisle, because right now it’s 52 to 3. Five Democrats can cross the aisle and reopen the government. That’s the best way to do it, George.”

Stephanopoulos, clearly irritated, tried to move the conversation back to current events. “I can disagree with you about the history there, but we don’t have a history lesson right now,” he said.

Bessent pushed back, “No, no, no, George. Let’s talk about what’s happening right now. If you want, I’ve got all your quotes here.”

“I’m sure you do,” Stephanopoulos responded, attempting to deflect.

WATCH:

Bessent went a step further, referencing Stephanopoulos’s own memoir, All Too Human: A Political Education. “I read your book,” he said. “So you got one purchase on Amazon this week, and that’s very much what you said.”

The tense back-and-forth highlighted a rare moment where Stephanopoulos, typically in control of his interviews, found himself on the defensive — with Bessent reminding viewers of his past political playbook.

Bessent’s remarks referred to Stephanopoulos’s 2001 PBS Frontline interview, where the former Clinton adviser openly described how the administration handled the 1995-96 government shutdown.

“Smoke ’em out. There were a few parts. One, nobody knew, and it was perilous, because no one knew who would get blamed more for the shutdown, Democrats or Republicans. But there was more than the shutdown involved,” Stephanopoulos told Frontline at the time. “First, there was also this threat that they would not extend the debt limit — that this was the big hammer that would force the president to accept whatever the Republicans wanted.”

Stephanopoulos continued, “Our strategy was very simple. We couldn’t buckle, and we had to say that they were blackmailing the country to get their way. In order to get their tax cut, they were willing to shut down the government, throw the country into default for the first time in its history and cut Medicare, Social Security, education and the environment just so they could get their way. And we were trying to say that they were basically terrorists, and it worked.”

Those words, once buried in an old interview transcript, resurfaced online after Bessent’s confrontation, reigniting discussion about media hypocrisy and the revolving door between partisan politics and journalism. Ironically, just hours after the heated exchange, the Senate voted 60–40 to advance a bipartisan spending package to reopen the government — exactly the kind of cross-party deal Bessent had called for. Five Democrats broke ranks to vote with Republicans, mirroring his on-air prediction.

Download the FREE Trending Politics App to get the latest news FIRST >>