CNN has been embarrassing itself at White House briefings for years.
Thursday was just the latest installment.
Kaitlan Collins walked in with a gotcha and walked out looking like she hadn't done a single minute of homework.
Bessent Didn't Just Answer Her – He Corrected Her
Collins came armed with a Washington Post story claiming two Treasury political appointees had been pushing the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to prepare designs for a commemorative $250 bill featuring President Trump.
She asked Bessent whether that was true.
"Yeah, we prepare for everything if it gets passed," Bessent said. "Just like we were ready six months in advance with the One Big Beautiful Bill for tax guidance. You can't draw something up the day before."
Then Collins tried the standard CNN move – the pivot to struggle porn.
"Do you think it's a good idea, though, when people are struggling to afford gas and groceries?"
Bessent didn't blink.
He pointed out that she was treating the nation's 250th anniversary celebration as if it just happened on its own – as if it costs nothing, involves no one, and requires zero preparation.
It doesn't.
https://twitter.com/RedWavePress/status/2060073667657166871?s=20
Federal employees, state governments, local governments, and private citizens are all pouring resources into the Semiquincentennial.
"I don't think that there's anything untoward about having the president of the United States on the 250th anniversary bill," Bessent concluded.
He also called the Washington Post article Collins was citing "terribly written, terribly edited" – while holding up a copy of it for the room to see.
Collins had no follow-up.
The Law, the Legislation, and What the Media Won't Tell You
Here's what CNN left out of its breathless coverage.
Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina introduced the Donald J. Trump $250 Bill Act in February 2025.
The legislation directs the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to design and print a $250 bill featuring Trump's portrait – and creates an exemption to 19th-century statutes that currently bar living individuals from appearing on U.S. currency.
That law dates to 1866 – and it exists because of naked ego, not principle.
Salmon P. Chase, Lincoln's Treasury Secretary, stuck his own face on a $1 Legal Tender Note while he was still alive and still running the department.
Congress was disgusted.
They passed a law four years later making sure no living person could pull that stunt again.
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing confirmed it is conducting planning and due diligence on the proposal – but nothing moves forward unless Congress passes the legislation first.
Wilson's bill has 15 Republican cosponsors and a committee hearing reportedly greenlit by Financial Services Chair French Hill of Arkansas.
America's 250th birthday is July 4th – five weeks away.
If Congress acts, Treasury is ready.
The Left Knows Exactly What This Means
The left absolutely cannot stand this.
They know Trump putting his signature on new currency – which Treasury announced in March – was the first step.
Now a $250 commemorative bill with his portrait is in the pipeline, and July 4th is closing in fast.
https://twitter.com/OwenGregorian/status/2060333413828034648?s=20
Democrats have spent two years trying to frame everything Trump touches as an authoritarian power grab.
A president on currency? They'll call it a dictatorship.
Forget that Lincoln is on the penny and the five.
Forget that Washington is on the quarter and the dollar.
Forget that every face on American money got there because history judged them worth remembering.
The pattern is obvious to anyone willing to look – great presidents end up on American money.
Democrats just don't want Trump recognized as one of them.
Bessent handled Collins the way every Trump official should handle CNN – with facts, without apology, and with the Washington Post article held up in the air like a receipt.
America turns 250 on July 4th. The man who won the most consequential election in a generation deserves to be on the bill.
Sources:
- Randy DeSoto, "Bessent Sets CNN's Kaitlan Collins Straight on Status of a Trump $250 Bill," The Western Journal, May 28, 2026.
- "Wilson Introduces Legislation to Print President Trump on New $250 Bill," Joe Wilson Congressional Office, February 27, 2025.
- "Treasury Prepares to Put Trump on a $250 Bill," Time, May 29, 2026.
- "Bessent: Nothing 'Untoward' About Trump Appearing on $250 Bill," Spectrum Local News, May 28, 2026.
- "Trump $250 Bill Would Break a 160-Year Law on U.S. Currency," Cultura Colectiva, May 28, 2026.