After the vice president Jay de Vance, the well-known Greek-American journalist George Stephanopoulos had an on-air confrontation on the show he does on ABC News and with the US Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Besant about the shutdown.
George Stephanopoulos asked Scott Bessent about the Trump administration’s plan to end the shutdown that is “paralyzing” the US. The finance minister responded, recalling the journalist’s attitude in a similar situation when he was an adviser to then US President Bill Clinton in the mid-90s.
Bessent accused Stephanopoulos of calling Republicans “terrorists” during the 1995 shutdown.
Scott Bessent schooled George Stephanopoulos after George tried to claim Trump’s path to ending the shutdown was killing the filibuster.
Bessent immediately reminded him of his own past comments about Republicans who kept the government closed.
But his last line hit like a… pic.twitter.com/2FRWK9oNeT
— Overton (@overton_news) November 9, 2025
Besent: “Look, you were involved in a lot of these events in the 90s. And you know, you basically called the Republicans terrorists and, you know, you said they’re not the party responsible for keeping the government shut.”
“And so, what we need is five brave moderate Democratic senators to cross over, because right now, it’s 52-3, 52-3, five Democrats can cross over and reopen the government. That’s the best way to do it, George.’
Stefanopoulos: “I can argue with you about history, but we don’t need a history lesson right now.”
Besent: “No, no, George. No, no, no, George, if you want, I have all your statements here. And I read your book again.”
“You made a purchase on Amazon this week. And that’s exactly what you said.”
The new “hot” episode starring George Stephanopoulos it took place just 24 hours after the one he had with the vice president Jay de Vance on the former Trump administration official’s bribery allegations; Tom Homan.