Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent criticized former Vice President Kamala Harris in a Fox Business Network appearance Sept. 24 in response to a question over a section in her new memoir explaining why she didn't pick Pete Buttigieg as her running mate in 2024.

In what has become one of the more controversial portions of her candid memoir, "107 Days," Harris writes she didn't choose then-Transportation Secretary Buttigieg, who is gay, because she thought it would be too much to ask of the American public.

"We were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man," she wrote. "Part of me wanted to say, 'Screw it, let's just do it.' But knowing what was at stake, it was too big of a risk."

Bessent, who is also openly gay, slammed both Harris and Buttigieg when asked about the former Democratic presidential candidate's decision.

"First, it shows her emphasis on identity politics, and the American people have moved on," Bessent said to Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo. "It shows how low regard she holds the American people."

Bessent continued, calling Harris a "terrible candidate" and Buttigieg the "worst transportation secretary in history."

"She judges him on his identity, his sexuality… let’s look and see whether he did a good job," Bessent said. "Let’s look on merit, and I can tell you, on merit he’s a failure, and on merit she’s a failure."

Bessent was a hedge-fund manager who once served as the Soros Fund Management chief investment officer before he was nominated for the cabinet-level position of Treasury Secretary by then-President-elect Donald Trump in November 2024.

Harris wrote in her memoir that Buttigieg was her "first choice" of her list of top eight potential running mates, and said he was "well qualified in so many respects."

The section also caught the attention of MSNBC host and commentator Rachel Maddow, who became the first openly gay anchor to host a primetime news program in 2008. In Harris' first extensive sit-down interview since losing the presidential election with Maddow on Sept. 22, the host said the section on Buttigieg was "hard to hear."

Harris pushed back, saying she did not say that Buttigieg couldn't be on the ticket because he is gay, and denied any prejudice in making the decision.

"My point, as I write in the book, is that I was clear that in 107 days, in one of the most hotly contested elections for president of the United States, against someone like Donald Trump who knows no floor, to be a Black woman running for president of the United States, and as a vice presidential running mate, a gay man, with the stakes being so high, it made me very sad, but I also realized it would be a real risk," she said.

This story has been updated.

Kathryn Palmer is a politics reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@usatoday.com and on X @KathrynPlmr.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Scott Bessent criticizes Kamala Harris over comments tied to Pete Buttigieg's sexuality

Reporting by Kathryn Palmer, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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