Hello and welcome back to the Podforce One podcast. I'm Miranda Devine. Our weekly podcast

features the biggest players in Washington. And today, we're coming to you from the US Treasury

and we're speaking with one of the most important figures in global finance, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant. Thank you very much,

Secretary Besant, for being our second guest on Podforce One. I know you're incredibly busy.

And you've brought us into this absolutely beautiful room in the historic Treasury building.

Can you tell us a little about it?

Miranda, first of all, congratulations from the podcast.

This room is one of three museum offices here in the fantastic Treasury Building.

Solomon Chase was the Treasury Secretary for Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War,

and he financed the United States or the Union Army.

So he created the term Greenback.

And he led the war effort.

And there have been several times during the course of the United States history, when Treasury has been called on to really hold the

nation together. Once it's during the Civil War, during the Depression, during World War II

to finance the war effort, and then during COVID. So we're sitting here today, this office, it's the exact furniture, his portrait

is in here, same everything. So this is a museum quality office. It's not my office. It's the

general counsel's office, but I like coming down and sitting in it sometimes. It must be

incredible for you to come from Wall Street to basically your living history.

Your predecessor, the very first Treasury Secretary was, of course, Alexander Hamilton, the original

tariff man.

Was.

Are there echoes in his career in what you're doing today?

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