WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Treasury Department sent a formal email to senior editors at the Financial Times and its parent company, Nikkei Inc., demanding the newspaper retract a March 26 report on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's views regarding Federal Reserve oversight. The department accused the FT of publishing false claims and disputed multiple assertions in the story, including its headline, which Treasury officials said misrepresented the underlying reporting.

The FT had reported that Bessent discussed increasing oversight of the Federal Reserve in a way resembling the Bank of England model, including through regular communication between the Bank of England governor and Britain's chancellor about inflation targets. Treasury officials denied that Bessent had endorsed the views described in the article or discussed adopting similar oversight practices in Washington. They took specific issue with the headline's assertion that Bessent had "praised" the Bank of England model for tighter oversight, saying that phrase did not appear in the story's text.

Elliott Hulse, acting assistant secretary for public affairs, wrote in the email that "The Secretary has never made any of the above statements in public or private." Hulse added, "At no time has the secretary 'discussed tightening the US Treasury's oversight of the Federal Reserve by adopting elements of the Bank of England's model in a step that would shake up the central bank's relationship with government.'" Hulse also wrote, "At no time has the secretary indicated, implied, or asserted that he 'could support the UK system in which the BoE governor corresponds regularly with the chancellor about the central bank's inflation target.'"

Bessent posted on social media: "In short, FT has literally manufactured an entirely fake policy position for me and the Administration." Treasury officials cited provisions in the Independent Press Standards Organization's editors' code of practice, which requires publications to avoid misleading or distorted information, though the FT is not a member of that organization.

Finola McDonnell, a spokesperson for the Financial Times, said in a statement, "We stand by our reporting and have included US treasury responses in the article."

Treasury officials did not issue a legal threat against the FT, and it was not immediately clear whether they would pursue additional efforts against the newspaper. The complaint marked the latest effort by Treasury officials to discredit the FT report.

The dispute unfolded during a period of heightened sensitivity in financial markets and among Treasury officials about the Federal Reserve's political independence. That sensitivity followed repeated threats by President Donald Trump to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for ignoring his demands to reduce borrowing costs. Those accusations led to a criminal investigation and caused jitters among investors who saw the moves as a threat designed to pressure Powell. Investors place a premium on the Fed maintaining its independence in making policy decisions rather than on the political preferences of the president.