Overview

• Politico reported that during a Sept. 3 inaugural dinner at the Executive Branch club in Georgetown, Scott Bessent confronted Bill Pulte and threatened to punch him after hearing Pulte had criticized him to President Trump.
• Witnesses said club co-owner Omeed Malik intervened, the men were separated and later seated at opposite ends of a roughly 30-person table, and no physical blows were exchanged.
• Accounts described a profanity-laced exchange during the cocktail hour, with sources disagreeing only on who initiated the conversation.
• Neither Bessent, Pulte, Malik nor the White House provided on-the-record comment, and reporting relied on anonymous eyewitnesses and people familiar with the incident.
• The episode fits a broader struggle among senior economic officials working on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and follows earlier reporting of a heated confrontation between Bessent and Elon Musk in the West Wing.