Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent repeatedly declined to comment on the IRS’ involvement in a controversial settlement agreement to set up an “anti-weaponization” fund during testimony before a Senate committee Tuesday, citing ongoing litigation.

Bessent, who also oversees the IRS through his post at the Treasury Department, stayed tight-lipped on the settlement, largely deferring to the Justice Department, as Democrats pressed him for details during a Senate Finance Committee hearing focused on President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2027 budget request.

The testimony came after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified before a House Appropriations subcommittee Tuesday that the Justice Department would not be moving forward with the fund created in the settlement of an unprecedented $10 billion lawsuit that Trump filed against the IRS over his leaked tax returns. But a related order barring the IRS from probes into Trump will remain in place.

“We intend to comply with that direction,” Bessent said early in his testimony. “I do not have any additional details into what that means at this time, but I will note that even with the acting Attorney General Blanche’s statements yesterday, this matter is still subject to ongoing litigation, so I’m unable to comment further on it.”

Still, Democrats sought to get more clarity about the role Bessent and the Treasury Department played in signing off on the settlement. The nearly $1.8 billion Justice Department fund alarmed lawmakers of both parties, with critics calling it a slush fund to reward Trump allies.

Finance Democrats also repeatedly raised concerns with the aspect of the settlement that the administration isn’t backing away from: a pledge barring the IRS from “examinations” against Trump, certain members of his family, the Trump Organization and “related or affiliated individuals.”

“This immunity deal is the biggest scam against the taxpayer in American history, and Americans are gonna pay taxes, and Trump and his clan won’t,” said Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the panel’s top Democrat.

Democrats drilled in on Bessent’s potential involvement in the settlement talks, with a focus on any push to back the agreement. Bessent declined to comment on whether he was asked, either directly or through his staff, to sign the agreement.

He was also mum on a reported memo from IRS lawyers outlining defenses against the lawsuit.

Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., got in an especially heated discussion with Bessent around his deferrals to the Justice Department. Bessent during his testimony said he and the Treasury Department “do not have agency” in the lawsuit, instead deferring to the Justice Department.

Luján was unsatisfied with Bessent’s responses to his line of questioning about his knowledge of the Justice Department’s settlement.

“You’re telling me, as the secretary of U.S. Treasury, you don’t know that the president of the United States, who I think you work for, got a sweetheart deal from the Department of Justice, who’s your lawyer?” Luján said. “You’re in line for the presidency, Scott.”

Democrats walked away from the hearing largely dissatisfied with Bessent’s answers, with limited details on the settlement emerging from the two-plus hours of testimony.

“This has been a critically important meeting, and what it has showed is that almost all of the big questions with respect to immunity from audits remain unanswered, and my own view is that we’re going to keep digging into this,” Wyden said. “I know that I’m going to. My own view is that somebody broke the law.”

Republicans, for their part, largely spent the meeting highlighting the rollout of the GOP’s sprawling budget reconciliation law enacted last year. Senate Finance Chairman Michael D. Crapo, R-Idaho, in his opening statement, touted the bill as providing “historic tax relief for working-class Americans.”

Other flashpoints

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, also pressed Bessent on Trump’s recent announcement that Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte will serve as acting director of national intelligence after Tulsi Gabbard’s planned departure from the post at the end of the month.

Pulte, a close Trump ally, has referred many of Trump’s political opponents to the Justice Department for allegations of mortgage fraud. Pulte has no intelligence experience, a fact Democrats have seized on as they push back on the appointment and the prospect of a Senate confirmation effort.

Tensions between Pulte and Bessent made headlines last fall, and Democratic opposition to the selection comes as lawmakers are working to get a bipartisan deal to extend a key government surveillance program across the finish line.

Bessent, when asked if he was “totally comfortable” with Pulte’s appointment, said that “many teams squabble in the locker room and go out on the field,” adding that he spoke with Pulte Tuesday to congratulate him.

“Pulte has had a record of not respecting confidential information. He’s weaponized mortgage information,” Warner said. “I just would have wished that someone in the White House would have gone to the emperor and said, ‘On this one, you got no clothes, and it’s an embarrassment.’”

Democrats also asked Bessent about the Treasury Department’s preparations to print $250 bills featuring Trump’s face. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., proposed legislation last year to put Trump’s face on the currency, and Bessent said the department is acting “in coordination with pending legislation.”

“We do things in advance. My predecessors seem to scramble to do things at the last minute,” Bessent said, adding that Treasury would “of course not” move forward with the production of the bills without congressional authorization.