News flash: holding up a piece of printer paper is now illegal, at least if you ask MS NOW. The evening after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took to the White House Press Briefing Room floor to address the media, Lawrence O’Donnell went on-air to rail against Bessent’s answer to Fox News’ Peter Doocy’s simple question and accused him off committing a felony that could land him in prison for up to 20 years.
Bessent’s alleged crime? Holding up his printed briefing notes that included an image mock-up of a proposed $250 bill that would feature President Trump:
DOOCY: How long until we see your signature next to President Trump's face on a $250 bill?
BESSENT: (...) So right now, there is proposed legislation that, in front of the House, in front of the Senate, to change the first requirement so that a living person, Donald J. Trump, could be on the $250 bill. So it's all in the hands of the - it's all up on Capitol Hill. So, at Treasury we prepare things in advance. So we have prepared in advance, that if the legislation is passed. But we will stick to the law.
The Treasury Secretary presented the design not printed on the cotton-linen blend that U.S. dollar bills use, but on a regular 8.5x11 sheet of paper with other text around the image. But according to O’Donnell, that act rendered Bessent “the buffoon who actually held up that obscene piece of counterfeit money today at the White House.”
Secretary Bessent, along with other Republicans who have given comments on the proposed $250 bill, never said that it was definitely going to happen. All of them know that, in order for such a $250 bill to go into circulation, Congress would have to first repeal the 1866 law that bans living people’s faces on U.S. currency.
Bessent himself said that “it’s all up on Capitol Hill.” The plan for Trump’s face on a bill did not break the law - it will only happen if the law changes to allow it, and there is already some movement in Congress to do just that.
The Treasury Secretary has not, nor is he willing to do anything against the law regarding U.S. currency, but O’Donnell did not acknowledge that reality. Squinting angrily into the camera, he all but accused Bessent of counterfeiting money - a serious felony.
Another reason O’Donnell raged against the $250 bill mock-up was that, in his clearly skewed point of view, the question wasn’t “serious” enough for him:
That moment distracted the White House Press Corps from asking more serious questions of that oh-so-eager, self-humiliating liar.
Never mind that MS NOW had two reporters in the room with Bessent, and they and the many other left-wing correspondents were free to ask the Secretary any questions they pleased, which they did.
What we saw on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell last night was a prime example of a leftist TV show pundit with a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. It looks like MS NOW didn’t learn their lesson about falsely accusing people of committing crimes.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MS NOW's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
May 28, 2026
10:03:40 p.m. EasternLAWRENCE O'DONNELL: Scott Bessent did something today that no other treasury secretary would have ever even considered doing. He played with counterfeit money publicly. When he was asked about Donald Trump's latest perverse fantasy of seeing his face on a new $250 bill.
[Cut to video]
PETER DOOCY: How long until we see your signature next to President Trump's face on a $250 bill?
SEC. SCOTT BESSENT: Well, again, as Treasury Secretary, I - I have two mandates for U.S. currency. At present, the - no living person can be on U.S. currency, and the currency must say, 'In God we trust.'So right now, there is proposed legislation that, in front of the House, in front of the Senate, to change the first requirement so that a living person, Donald J. Trump, could be on the $250 bill. So it's all in the hands of the - it's all up on Capitol Hill. So, at Treasury we prepare things in advance. So we have prepared in advance, that if the legislation is passed. But we will stick to the law.
[Cut back to live]
O'DONNELL: It's never going to happen. Congress has to vote to authorize a $250 piece of currency, and Congress would have to repeal a law that prevents the faces of living people from being on our currency. And then Congress would have to pass another law that put Donald Trump's face on that new piece of currency.And so we can say with confidence tonight that Donald Trump's face will never appear on a $250 bill. And in fact, Donald Trump's face will never appear on American currency, ever, because the 60 votes necessary to do that in the United States Senate will never exist. And our self-clowning Treasury Secretary knows that. But he felt the need today to carry his public worship of Donald Trump to the point of now being locked in history as the buffoon who actually held up that obscene piece of counterfeit money today in the White House.
But it worked. That moment distracted the White House Press Corps from asking more serious questions of that oh-so-eager, self-humiliating liar.
