Bessent Fires Back at Obama With Cheesecake Factory Lunch

A key Cabinet official in the Trump administration on Monday hit back at former President Barack Obama‘s criticisms of White House renovations by having lunch at the restaurant chain that was caught up in the ex-president’s critique.

Obama spoke at a rally in Ohio on Saturday while campaigning for Democratic candidates and slammed President Donald Trump‘s renovations at the White House. He said that Trump “seems very focused on home renovations” and “should be on HGTV.”

“He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory,” Obama quipped after discussing Trump’s affinity for gold décor in the various projects underway at the executive mansion, including the new ballroom, changes to the Rose Garden and a new helipad. The multimillion-dollar East Wing demolition and ballroom construction project has drawn intense scrutiny since work began earlier this year, prompting debate over alterations to the historic 1792 complex.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent responded by going to a Cheesecake Factory in Washington, D.C., for lunch and hit back at the former president’s remarks with a criticism of the design of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

“This is the man who built the museum and it looks like Darth Vader’s tomb,” Bessent said. “I had a great meal. I always have a great meal, and I would tell the Martha’s Vineyard set to give it a try.”

Bessent was asked what he had for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and said he ordered a French dip cheeseburger, which is his typical order at the restaurant chain.

The Treasury secretary’s critique of the Obama Presidential Center’s design comes as the building has been dubbed the “Obamalisk” by some critics over the 225-foot, granite-clad tower’s appearance. The Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects-designed structure, situated in Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side, has faced years of legal challenges from preservationists concerned about its footprint near Lake Michigan.

The projected price tag of the Obama Presidential Center has surged from its original estimate of $350 million to more than $1 billion, according to previous reporting. Unlike traditional presidential libraries operated by the National Archives and Records Administration, the Chicago facility will function as a privately managed center without a physical archive housing presidential records.

Additionally, taxpayers have faced hundreds of millions of dollars in associated public infrastructure costs that are separate from the Obama center’s construction budget.

Bessent, who also announced Operation Economic Outcast on Monday—a sweeping effort by the Trump administration to pressure nations into severing economic ties with Iran—has been a staunch defender of the administration’s agenda and has taken rhetorical shots at critics. He recently responded to a letter from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., by telling her that “Rather than take my suggestion of studying introductory economics, you have continued your letter-writing crusade and participation in tabloid fodder about the Treasury Department.”