U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent faced a heated confrontation with a Democratic lawmaker and acknowledged that his earlier congressional testimony may have been mistaken.

His error, Bessent insisted — despite the view of many economists — was his claim that he had not said “tariffs are inflationary.”

“Earlier,” The New York Times reported, “he had denied having written to his hedge fund investors in 2024 that tariffs are inflationary. Presented with his exact words, however, he said that he was wrong to deny making those comments and that he had been wrong at the time about tariffs and inflation.”

U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) read from a letter Bessent wrote in 2024 — before Trump won the White House.

“I want to read you a quote,” Casten began. “‘Trump will pursue a weak dollar policy rather than implementing tariffs. Tariffs are inflationary and would strengthen the dollar.’ Do you recognize that quote?”

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“I believe you’re referring to a letter that I wrote, and tariffs could be inflationary,” Bessent replied.

“No, no,” Casten insisted. “It says ‘tariffs are inflationary.'”

Casten then asked, “Do you want to correct what you said to the ranking member when you specifically said that you did not say tariffs are inflationary?”

“You said tariffs are inflationary,” Casten continued, after having to repeat himself.

“Do you want to correct what you said to the ranking member? Or did you lie?” Casten then pressed.

“If I was mistaken, I want to correct it,” Bessent said. “And I was also mistaken when I said the tariffs could be inflationary, because — we’ve seen inflation drop to 2.1 percent.”

Many economists say that tariffs are inflationary because they function as a tax, in this case, largely on American firms and consumers.

According to HuffPost, Trump’s $181 billion tariff increase “ranks as the 13th biggest tax hike since before World War II.”

Casten: You said tariffs are inflationary. Do you want to correct what you said to the ranking member, or did you lie?

Bessent: If I was mistaken, I want to correct it. I was also mistaken when I said tariffs could be inflationary. pic.twitter.com/yibPo4HAGZ

— Acyn (@Acyn) February 4, 2026

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Secretary Kristi Noem‘s Department of Homeland Security is facing a sweeping investigation launched by Republican U.S. Senator Thom Tillis, who announced that he has “serious questions” about how her agencies are operating — including how they are treating U.S. citizens — in his home state of North Carolina and in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Hill, which reported on Tillis’ investigation, noted that his “letter does not mention the deaths of Renee Good or Alex Pretti after they were shot by immigration agents in Minneapolis, but it does ask for a sweeping data production on every ICE interaction in the field, including with U.S. citizens.”

Senator Tillis has recently called for Noem’s resignation or ouster.

“What she’s done in Minnesota should be disqualifying. She should be out of a job,” he said in late January, describing her performance as “amateurish.”

“I believe that Noem is out of her depth,” Tillis said just one day later. “She is not competent to run this organization.”

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On Wednesday, Tillis responded to a rebuke of him by President Donald Trump, who said the Senator from North Carolina was a “loser.”

“That obviously qualifies me to be the Homeland Security secretary,” he told CNBC.

In his letter to Secretary Noem, Tillis wrote that he was seeking “clarification” on “multiple public reports” from North Carolina that “allege that U.S. citizens were detained, subject to force, and experienced damage to personal property.”

“Local reporting describes, among other incidents, a U.S. citizen detained twice in a single day, with the second encounter involving agents shattering the individual’s vehicle window and forcibly removing him from the car. Other reports describe an 18-year-old U.S. citizen detained at his workplace in Cary, North Carolina, and later dropped off at a different location, where CBP agents tossed his belongings,” he wrote, asking if they “reflect substantiated incidents.”

Tillis also shared similar concerns in Minneapolis, Minnesota, “where DHS enforcement actions reportedly involved U.S. citizens, use of force, reliance on administrative warrants, and unclear predication for initial engagements.”

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“Taken together, these events point to a broader transparency and accountability gap in DHS interior enforcement operations that this Committee has a responsibility to address.”

Tillis’s sweeping demand calls for “all encounter-level data for DHS interior enforcement operations conducted in North Carolina and Minneapolis, including all stops, detentions, questioning, searches, releases, uses of force, property damage incidents, and encounters involving U.S. citizens,” among other items.

He noted that his “requests apply to all DHS components engaged in interior enforcement activities.”

Tillis also asked for training materials governing “obligations with respect to constitutional protections for U.S. citizens and lawful residents and describe how compliance is assessed and enforced.”

And he called for DHS policies “addressing entry into private residences based solely on administrative warrants, including how compliance with the Fourth Amendment is assessed, enforced, and reviewed in practice.”

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Image via Reuters 

Attorney George Conway, the Republican never-Trump activist turned Democratic candidate for the U.S. Congress, issued a strong call for the impeachment and removal of President Donald Trump from office.

It’s the latest dire warning Conway has made in recent days.

On Monday, Conway issued a warning about President Trump and his “megalomania.”

“The way things are going in America, it should be clear we don’t have much time,” Conway wrote. “We certainly don’t have three years. We need to help ourselves by pushing for impeachment and removal as hard as we can and carrying it out as soon as humanly possible.”

“How quickly does the megalomaniac lose strength versus how quickly he destroy[s] everything around him,” he added. “The one thing you can depend on is that the megalomaniac gets more destructive and dangerous over time before he’s done.”

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On Tuesday, Conway wrote, “I think a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility—the most modern and secure one, because our president deserves the best—should be named after Trump. If elected to Congress, I pledge to do my best to enact this into law.”

Tuesday evening, using strong language, he vowed to work to impeach and remove Trump from office, if he wins his bid for a New York congressional seat.

“Removed — not just impeach — remove this fascist f — —,” Conway told the MeidasTouch Network.

“If you want your lives to be better and you want this country to preserve for your kids, we need to impeach and remove this fascist f — —,” he continued. “Now. As soon as possible.”

“You know, that language is tough, but that’s where we are,” Conway said. “We can’t mince words at this point.”

“We are at a crossroads,” he explained, “and if we want to have a country that survives, we need to end this tragedy that’s called Trumpism as soon as humanly possible.”

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