Trump Nominates Scott Bessent as Third Cabinet Member with Hamptons Ties

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated billionaire financier and former Hamptons homeowner Scott Bessent to serve as the next secretary of treasury — the incoming administration’s third prospective cabinet member with East End ties.

If the U.S. Senate confirms him, the South Carolina native will reportedly be the first out gay cabinet member of a Republican administration and the second ever. He would also be the second hedge fund manager to be named treasury secretary after Trump’s prior pick for the role, Southamptonite Steve Mnuchin.

“Scott has long been a strong advocate of the America First Agenda,” Trump said in the Nov. 22 announcement. “As a lifelong champion of Main Street America and American industry, Scott will support my policies that will drive U.S. competitiveness and stop unfair trade imbalances.”

Trump previously selected ex-U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), the former congressman for the East End, to serve as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and nominated Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, a Jericho native who owns a home in Bridgehampton, to be the next U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

Bessent, who served as chief investment officer for George Soros’s family office until 2015, owned Wyndecote — one of the original Southampton summer colony cottages — from 2012 until 2019. He spent millions of dollars renovating the home, built in 1886, which he bought for $10 million and listed for $22 million. Its high-profile visitors were said to include the Duke of Windsor and the King of Spain.

Bessent shared his thoughts on Trump’s proposed tariffs in a recent OpEd on FoxNews.com

“Used strategically, tariffs can increase revenue to the Treasury, encourage businesses to restore production and reduce our reliance on industrial production from strategic rivals,” he wrote. “For too long, the conventional wisdom has rejected the use of tariffs as a tool of both economic and foreign policy.”