Scott Bessent tore into the New York Times at the paper’s own media conference on Wednesday — accusing it of pushing distorted coverage of President Trump’s health while downplaying its own failures to scrutinize former President Joe Biden’s decline.  Good for him.

     In a tense onstage exchange at the paper’s Dealbook Summit in New York City, Bessent warned Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin that the paper was drifting to “You know, in 20, 30, 40, 50 years, the New York Times is no longer the paper of record,” Bessent predicted in comments reported by Mediaite.  ward irrelevance and had become a “fever swamp,” insisting he no longer reads the Times himself.  The Treasury secretary cited a Times report last week that claimed that Trump, 79 was starting to show his age: shorter public days, later starts, and moments in which he appeared fatigued during meetings.

     “I read this article, like ‘President Trump is slowing down. President Trump’s mental capacity –’ It is a hundred percent fake. Like he only called me twice at 2 in the morning last week instead of three times.” According to the Times story, Trump holds far fewer public events than he did during the first year of his first term and travels domestically at a slower pace, even as he increases foreign trips.  The article also cited instances in which the president’s eyes drooped during midday meetings, and recounted questions surrounding recent medical procedures he disclosed without detail. 

     In response, Bessent highlighted a lengthy cCabinet meeting as evidence the president was fully engaged as he faulted the paper for ignoring the pace of official work. Bessent went on to accuse the Times of contributing to what he called “one of the greatest scandals of all time” through its “coverage of the Biden administration, Joe Biden’s diminished capacity, and the cover-up.”