(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman reports that the president-elect Donald Trump considers new candidates for Treasury secretary after souring on its leading candidate Howard Lutnick.

Trump plans to nominate two new nominees, including former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh and Wall Street billionaires Marc Rowan. The president-elect was expected to choose either Lutnick, chairman of Trump’s transition team, or Scott Bessentformer fund manager of George Soros.

However, Haberman claims that Trump had “doubts” about both candidates while expressing frustration that Lutnick was “too much with him.” Additionally, a source told Haberman that the battle between Lutnick and Bessent has turned into a full-blown “knife fight” as Trump considers who to nominate.

According to the Times:

Mr. Lutnick, who led Mr. Trump’s transition operation, has irritated Mr. Trump of late. Mr. Trump has privately expressed frustration that Mr. Lutnick was hanging around too much and manipulating the transition process for his own ends. A person close to the process, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the battle between Mr. Lutnick and Mr. Bessent as a knife fight, with Mr. Lutnick as the main aggressor.

Mr. Bessent is reportedly still under consideration and has also been mentioned by people in Mr. Trump’s economic circles as a possible candidate to head the White House National Economic Council. Elon Musk, a close adviser to the president-elect, on Sunday called Mr. Bessent the “usual” choice for Treasury secretary in a post on his social media platform X, while lending his support to Mr. Lutnick.

Trump is expected to invite new contenders for the role, Warsh and Rowan, to a meeting at Mar-a-Lago later this week.

Karoline Leavittthe new White House press secretary, told the Times in a statement: “President-elect Trump is making decisions about who will serve in his second administration. These decisions will continue to be announced by him when they are made.

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