Bessent’s Portfolio Keeps Growing. His Team Is Getting Smaller.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promised to unleash economic fury on Iran that has “never been seen” in U.S. history, the latest project in his ever-growing list of responsibilities.

At the same time, the team around him keeps shrinking.

Since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term, seven Senate-confirmed officials — including the deputy secretary, general counsel, top sanctions official and IRS chief — have departed from Treasury, as have several other senior officials, some within months of taking the job. Last month saw the exit of Jonathan McKernan, Bessent’s top deputy on domestic finance matters, and Kenneth Kies, a senior tax official. In June, Bessent announced the appointment of his third chief of staff.

The departures come at a time when Bessent is poised to play an even larger role in the Iran war as the Trump administration aims to achieve “the greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world.” Although other departments in the administration have seen their share of turnover, the Treasury exits stand out given its escalated wartime responsibility and central role in keeping financial markets stable as Trump’s approval ratings on the economy are at all-time lows.

And Bessent can only devote attention to so many things at once.

“If you’re focused on everything, you’re focused on nothing,” said a former administration official, who, like others in the story, was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “If you’re a job candidate and you want to go work in the government and the writing on the wall is clear now that the Treasury Department is focused on Iran, can you recruit the best people to [help manage jittery investors in U.S. government debt]? Especially if you’ve seen the pattern of departures that you have?”

In the meantime, Bessent has increasingly relied on a core group of trusted advisers, including Gene Lange, who is playing a key role in the Iran policies as acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. He joined the administration in early 2025 after previously working under Bessent at his hedge fund, Key Square. Lange took over the TFI role after his Senate-confirmed predecessor, John Hurley, parted ways with the department.

The reasons so many people have left Treasury vary, according to three people familiar with the dynamics within the building. The administration has a distaste for officials who are viewed as slowing down its priorities, the people said. Interagency power dynamics have also led to some aides getting pushed out, and other officials have been ill-suited for their roles, they said.

Meanwhile, a senior White House official said some might simply see better career opportunities outside the building.

“It’s one of those things where a lot of these people have been in their jobs for quite a while,” the official said. “And they’re hot commodities on Wall Street, so traditionally there is a lot of turnover.”

From February 2025 to June 2026, 40 non-Senate-confirmed political appointees have left the department through the end of June, according to an analysis by the Partnership for Public Service.

The departures come as Treasury has been at the center of a vast set of policies, from implementing last year’s new tax law, managing the government’s debt, overseeing financial regulators, conducting economic diplomacy, weighing in on artificial intelligence policy and imposing sanctions — a grueling agenda.

“I wouldn’t be so focused on the numbers because it’s a highly efficiently run organization,” said Joe Lavorgna, the chief economist at SMBC Americas who left earlier this year as senior aide to Bessent. “There are fewer people, but that just means people who are there are being maximized.”

White House spokesperson Kush Desai praised Bessent’s work on so-called Trump accounts, which provide tax-advantaged investments for children; strengthening financial markets and negotiating trade deals.

“These successes would not be possible without an all-star Treasury team who are capable of delivering,” he said.

A Treasury spokesperson said Bessent "has brought the pace, rigor and accountability of the private sector to government, with a singular focus on delivering results for President Trump and the American people.”

Treasury has bolstered its leadership ranks in recent weeks, with the Senate earlier this month confirming Francis Brooke as deputy secretary, Erin Browne as under secretary for international affairs, and Hunter McMaster as assistant secretary for financial markets. Those confirmations, however, come amid continued turnover across the department’s senior ranks.

Now, as the Trump administration is focused on squeezing Iran economically after a series of military attacks, Bessent will be a central figure in the ongoing war.

The sanctions have targeted a sprawling web of Iranian revenue streams, including crypto exchanges, shadow-fleet tankers, so-called teapot refineries that process Iranian oil, and foreign properties of financiers tied to the regime.

Trump announced Wednesday “Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale.” He pressured countries to stop doing business with or banking with Iran, promising “TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences” to those that do.

The United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday, announced it was suspending trade with Iran, cutting off a key economic lifeline.

White House allies say that’s the same kind of action the U.S. is hoping for from other countries, conceding that there are limited concrete actions the U.S. can take to directly squeeze Iran as it grapples with sky-high inflation, long lines at gas pumps amid fuel shortages and doubling food prices.

“I think it’s a smart attempt,” one person close to the White House said. “I know it was proposed as a non-military, non-bomb related way to get on this. From that perspective, it’s certainly smart to try, and I give Secretary Bessent a ton of credit for being creative and persistent on how to use the economic might of the United States.”

Between Iran and turmoil in bond markets, Bessent is “in a terribly challenging job right now,” the person added.

The secretary has been managing the fallout of the war on the markets where the U.S. government borrows money, with long-term yields reaching levels not seen in nearly two decades. That runup in rates is due partially to the conflict and the fact that it has pushed up oil prices, but also to the overall volume of debt, as well as competition with borrowers who are building out AI infrastructure. Those are all factors that intersect with the department’s portfolio, though the ranks of officials around to deal with them are dwindling.

For example, Christina Skinner, a key interlocutor with the private sector on AI, was set to leave the department on Friday to return to academia, as earlier reported by POLITICO.

The question is how quickly, and whether, some of these vacancies will be filled.

Art Laffer, a onetime top adviser to Ronald Reagan and a Trump ally who talks to the president occasionally, said the political direction ultimately comes from the top.

"President Trump is very involved in economics,” he said. “When you look at Treasury, what they’re doing, it’s really following his wishes.”

A former senior U.S. official with extensive senior Gulf contacts said the region sees Bessent as among Trump’s most capable and potent Cabinet officials, wielding one of the most powerful tools available to the administration against Iran. He summed up Gulf leaders’ perspective as “Bessent is one of the sharpest knives in the administration’s toolkit whose views and requirements carry great weight in the region.”

But Alex Zerden, a former Treasury official and founder of Capitol Peak Strategies, said the departures could still pose limits.

“Treasury doesn’t have the full benefit of career expertise and Senate-confirmed political leadership to aggressively target Iran,” Zerden said.

Daniella Cheslow contributed to this report.