What to know, how to watch

Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Department of Treasury secretary, will appear before the Senate on Thursday for his confirmation hearing.

Bessent, who reportedly gave Trump economic advice on the campaign trail, has had a career in finance for decades.

He has also been vocal about his support for Trump’s proposed economic policy of deregulation, increasing domestic energy production and tax cuts. In the days leading up to his confirmation, Bessent divested from his hedge fund and other investments to “avoid any actual or apparent conflict of interest,” Reuters reported.

Trump referred to Bessent as a “strong advocate of the America First Agenda,” who will maintain the U.S. dollar as the “Reserve Currency of the World.”

“Unlike in past Administrations, we will ensure that no Americans will be left behind in the next and Greatest Economic Boom, and Scott will lead that effort for me, and the Great People of the United States of America,” Trump said in a statement about choosing Bessent.

Bessent will appear before the Senate Finance Committee for consideration. If he is confirmed, Bessent will be tasked with advising Trump on financial, economic and tax policy matters.

Here’s what you need to know about the confirmation hearing.

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Watch Scott Bessent’s confirmation hearing

The confirmation hearing is scheduled to start at Thursday, Jan. 16 at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Who is Scott Bessent?

Bessent is a 62-year-old hedge investor and fund manager. He was a chief investment officer at Soros Fund Management and later served as both CEO and chief investment officer for Key Square Capital Management, a hedge fund he founded in 2015.

The Yale alumnus has returned to his alma mater to teach a couple classes over the years, sharing his expertise about financial booms and busts of the 20th century, hedge funds and the financial panic of 2007 to 2009, according to Yale’s Alumni Magazine.

Though Bessent was a longtime New York City resident, he currently calls Charleston, South Carolina home. He lives in a restored Greek Revival mansion with his husband John Freeman, a former New York City prosecutor and their two children.

Bessent is a member of the French Huguenot Church of Charleston, where his family were founding members in the 1680s, according to Trump’s statement.

Scott Bessent once considered a career in news

Bessent gave journalism a go in college, but it did not work out like he hoped, according to a 2015 interview with Yale Alumni Magazine.

“Well, I had run to be editor of the Yale Daily News, and I didn’t get it,” Bessent told the magazine. “I kind of locked myself in my room for a month, and just went to class and the dining hall.”

The next semester, he decided to pivot. Bessent ended up scoring an internship with Jim Rogers, a Yale alumnus and well-known New York City financier, and the rest was history.

Contributing: Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA TODAY