Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent continued to blame the Biden administration Sunday for current economic troubles like the dissolution of Spirit Airlines.

The CEO of Spirit Airlines blamed high jet fuel prices due to the Iran war for its ultimate demise, prompting pundits on the right and left to weigh in.

Conservative author Ann Coulter wrote on X, “It was high fuel costs that was the final death knell for Spirit — caused by a pointless war that has left everyone worse off,” while MS NOW’s Stephanie Ruhle concurred.

“Spirit danced with bankruptcy & was plagued by management issues for quite some time,” Ruhle posted. “Then – this unprofitable organization – with almost no cushion got hit with soaring jet fuel costs. That is the story.”

Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo asked Bessent, “Let me get your take on what took place in terms of Spirit Airlines, because I know that the Democrats did not want Spirit to merge with JetBlue a year ago, and now we see that Spirit Airlines closed operations. The Treasury was supposed to be doing a deal to save this company. Can you tell us what happened?”

“So, this is just more of the mess we inherited from the Biden administration,” Bessent began. He continued:

In September 202, Elizabeth Warren, who loves to write letters, sent a letter to the Justice Department, to the Transport Department, saying that they should oppose the merger with Spirit Airlines. JetBlue wanted to buy them for $3.8 billion. It would have given them much more resiliency. And she and the Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg — probably the worst Transportation secretary in history when it came to the office — they were against the merger. And if Jetblue had merged with Spirit, we would have all these jobs that were lost yesterday. We had 30 airports, 30 regional airports who have lost service. And I can tell you what happened here. It wasn’t Treasury, it was Commerce that was trying to put something together. But the reason we were here was because the merger, the Biden administration opposed the merger. We shouldn’t have been here in the first place.

Bessent did not answer Bartiromo’s question about why the $500 million federal bailout fell through.

Back in February 2025 — in a clip resurfaced by a progressive influencer on Sunday which made the rounds on X — Bessent was asked exactly when the Trump administration would stop blaming former President Joe Biden for trouble with the economy.

“President Trump said the other day, someone said, ‘Well, when does it become your economy?’ He said, ‘Probably six or 12 months out.’ I think I would agree with that,” Bessent said then.

Fourteen months have passed since that comment.

Watch the clip via Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo on Fox News.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!