President Donald Trump began to openly taunt Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called him an “idiot” and tattled to the president that Lutnick had “f**ked up” a minerals deal with Ukraine, according to a new book.

On Monday, MS NOW host Lawrence O’Donnell read the excerpt of “Regime Change” by The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. It began on a Trumpian sexist note:

“I’m not a big fan of Ukraine,” Trump said. “Except their women. They keep winning Miss Universe.”

It was Ukraine that provoked Donald Trump’s secretary of the treasury to call his commerce secretary an idiot. Meanwhile, the Ukraine minerals deal was also causing considerable internal dissension in the administration, along with rivalry and backbiting at senior levels.

Howard Lutnick had told the president that Scott Bessent had “screwed up” the deal. Bessent looked at Lutnick’s proposal. “This is a shitty deal. You’re an idiot,” he told Lutnick. Bessent went right back to the president and said, “Howard’s fucked up the deal. I had an uncapped deal and we’re getting revenues, not earnings.”

“Is that right?” Trump said. “They gave you that?”

“Yes.”

At that, Trump started mocking Lutnick, sometimes in front of others, enjoying the sport.

In April 2025, the U.S. and Ukraine reached an agreement to give the U.S. access to the embattled nation’s minerals and natural resources. Ukraine, in turn, would be given a reconstruction fund that officials there hoped would ensure U.S. assistance in Ukraine’s ongoing war against Russia’s invasion.

Lutnick could be on Trump’s chopping block, Politico reported in April 2026.

Lutnick invited further scrutiny in May when House Democrats accused him of lying in testimony about his relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Lutnick had previously admitted to traveling to Epstein’s island with his family in 2012, four years after Epstein’s conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution.

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