Transcription
Today, we're getting a much clearer picture of just how much President Donald Trump and his family have been profiting in many ways since Trump's return to the White House. We're going to walk you through multiple examples, starting with President Trump's newly released 2025 financial disclosure, required by the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, that shows his total income for 2025 exceeded $2.2 billion. That is up from $622 million in 2024, before he returned to the White House.
This 927-page report is a staggering look at President Trump's growing fortune made while he's president, through cryptocurrency holdings, royalty payments, property investments, and much more. Now, Trump's total crypto earnings alone totaled about $1.4 billion during his first year back in office. $1.4 billion with a B. And it's important to note, President Trump began making cryptocurrency regulations, or the lack thereof, a big part of his presidency. Some of the crypto earnings on the financial disclosure include more than $526 million from sales of cryptocurrency tokens tied to World Liberty Financial LLC, which is managed in part by his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. Also, an agreement with Celebration Coins paid Trump $635 million. This is thought to be behind the Trump meme coin, which has plunged in value since he launched it days before taking office. After Trump and Co. sold them, they plunged from a high of $74.27 to their current value around $1.70, according to Coinbase.
Another big source of money is Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club. Obviously a destination, since you might be able to see or even pitch an idea to the president. Mar-a-Lago generated $77 million alone in resort-related revenue. That's up from about $50 million last year. Then there's more of the deals that Trump struck to lend his name to random products and ventures, which lead to huge royalties and licensing fees, such as Trump Watches generated $4.7 million in royalties. Don't forget the $28,000 related to a Bible that the president frequently promoted, plus $67,634 for Trump sneakers and fragrances. What exactly is a Trump fragrance? You don't know.
Aside from business ventures, Trump's financial disclosure also includes gifts and his various "quote unquote" settlements, which social media companies and news organizations whom he sued or threatened to. $8 million from Twitter or X after Elon Musk settled with Trump last February. $16 million each from ABC and from CBS, donated to the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation, of course. $24.5 million from Facebook parent company Meta, also donated to the Trump Library. $22 million from YouTube, given to the Trust for the National Mall.
In terms of Trump's actual profit, it is unprecedented for a sitting president, and it's drawn criticism from opponents and others who say there are multiple conflicts of interest. The White House denies that, and today Trump downplayed any concerns that he could be profiting off the presidency.
"Mr. President, uh, your financial disclosure shows you had a very lucrative year last year. What message does this send to to average Americans, especially those who may be struggling right now financially?"
"I don't get involved in my personal. We have funds that run my money."
"To critics who say you're profiting off the presidency, Mr."
"Well, you know why I'm profiting? Because the stock market's going up. Everybody's profiting."
The stock market is not why he made $2.2 billion dollars last year. Now, the financial disclosure that he filed, as he's required to do by law, that's only part of the picture. Of course, Trump has promoted businesses and policies that stand to benefit both himself and his family members. And of course, his family members have businesses of their own. The most obvious source of Trump family profiting comes from cryptocurrency, as I mentioned, and Trump's vocal support for the cryptocurrency industry. In addition to the $526 million for cryptocurrency tokens tied to the firm managed in part by Eric and Don Jr., First Lady Melania Trump also made $6 million from the sale of a non-fungible token, or NFT. It's a type of cryptocurrency.
Last night, a former member of Trump's legal team, Ty Cobb, gave his assessment of what's going on to CNN's Erin Burnett. "It's a slimy industry. Uh, you know, certainly the way he's going around it, where he creates policies that can only enrich himself and his family, uh, is something that I think the average American, uh, should be staggered by. U, but you, you mentioned the scale, and I think the scale here is just, um, um, it's intentional."
Also earlier this week, the typically Trump-friendly New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch, called out the president and Eric and Don Jr., writing, "Insider deals, finders fees, backdoor introductions to family members are business as usual in third-world banana republics, but these slimy practices have now been normalized in the White House, to the shame of the nation." Again, that's the New York Post. The Post went on to reference the billion-dollar tungsten mining deal that we told you about a few weeks ago that Eric and Don Jr. are tied to. It's one that the U.S. government is partly financing in Kazakhstan, with President Trump calling into the meeting in which the deal was finalized. The Post writing, "The Trump's sons, meanwhile, are part owners or investors in companies neck-deep in a key defense contract to mine tungsten reserves in Central Asia. It stinks to high heaven." Again, the Trump-friendly New York Post.
In statements to the New York Times, the White House, I'm sorry, in statements to the New York Times, the White House and the Commerce Department rejected any suggestion that the Trump administration was improperly combining government actions with family business. And of course, many who have signed deals with Trump family members and companies have business before the government. That includes Elon Musk and other billionaires who have benefited from regulatory decisions that President Trump overseas. I'm sorry, Elon Musk is now a trillionaire.
So, there's family and friends, and then of course, there's foreign governments who by now know how to play the Trump game, hoping to gain a favorable position with the Trump administration by spending billions of dollars, sometimes in cash, sometimes investments in crypto, or even, as we saw today, a plane. Today, President Trump is in North Dakota for the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, after taking the inaugural flight on the brand-new Air Force One, a luxury jet donated by the government of Qatar. Reports have put the value of the plane around $400 million. This massive gift to end all gifts was formerly given to the Pentagon, though it is expected to exit the administration along with Mr. Trump and head to Florida along with Mr. Trump. A source telling CNN that the plan was for the aircraft to be donated to Trump's presidential library. We'll see. Critics have raised several legal, ethical, and even national security concerns over a U.S. president accepting such a massive foreign gift.
Today, President Trump said the U.S. couldn't build a plane like this because we wouldn't be willing to spend that kind of money. "This was a gift from a, a country that's treated us very well. I went to Qatar. I said, 'I'd like to use it for a period of time because the other ones, as you know, are under construction. They'll be here in two years,' and, cuz, you know, the plane is 35 years old. So I said, 'I'd like to use it.' And, uh, the Amir Tamim, who's a great gentleman, he said, 'No, no, I'd like to make a contribution to the country.' What a guy. That Amir, what a guy."
And while Trump is happy to receive these gifts of questionable origin, we should note he's also happy to complain about giving. Back in February, he said that he gets no credit for donating his presidential salary, which amounts to what's basically pocket change, $400,000 a year. "In the history of our country, there's never been a president that waved his salary. I'm the only schmuck. I get no credit for it. You know what I get? No credit for it. Nobody ever writes about it."
Okay, a couple things. Regardless of whether or not he's a schmuck, he's not the only president who donated his salary. Herbert Hoover did. John F. Kennedy did as well. Second point, Trump's tax documents from 2020, his last full year in office in his first term, showed that he reported zero in charitable giving. Zero. But now he wants credit for donating $400,000 while his presidential position allows him to rake in more than $2 billion.
And what about Congress? Where are they in any of this? So many of the same people who criticized President Obama for barely profiting on book sales when he was president, or the people who investigated the Biden family for their alleged profiting off the vice presidency and presidency. They are silent today. They have nothing to say. Nothing. It is crickets. So, one can only conclude this is now a precedent that is being set, because why would any future president not just cash in as much as possible? We are a long way from 1900 when Teddy Roosevelt wrote in an essay, "No man who is corrupt, no man who condones corruption in others can possibly do his duty by the community." Teddy Roosevelt, whose library President Trump visited today.
"Are you concerned about how much money Trump has raked in in one year?"
"Am I concerned with a billionaire making more billions on on on more money? No, I'm not. Uh, in fact, look, look, nobody. Let me just sum up. Nobody who voted for Donald Trump, a guy with, you know, skyscrapers with his name on it, with a plane that has his name on it, is suspect of him making money. That's not. Let me get this straight. He made his whole career talking about how much money he made."
Donald Trump, in the year before he was president, 2024, um, made, let's call it, uh, an eight. It was, it's a fraction of it. It's like about $500-$600 million in total in 2024. Now we're looking at billions of dollars. So the amount of money that the president has raked in while sitting in the White House is beyond anything that I think people can even conceptualize. We are talking about billions of dollars.
"You're using innuendo and conjecture to say there's something that's very. There's no, there's no actual evidence. It's actually just a fact that the only thing that's changed about Donald Trump is that he's president now."
"Joe, you make a great politician, weaving around all of the answers. The reality of the situation is Trump is the most corrupt president in American history, and we're not even telling the full story. I'm glad that you brought up the quid pro quo part, because the part that we're missing is this $2 billion investment from the UAE was facilitated by the founder of Binance, CZ. The founder of Binance was subsequently pardoned by Donald Trump, and Trump has benefited off of this crypto. He leveraged the hype of his inauguration to the day before announce a cryptocurrency named Trumpcoin. But that wasn't enough, cuz then he announced MelaniaCoin. But that wasn't enough, cuz then he created this pardon economy where people can pay into his campaigns or his family, and they get directly pardoned."
"Do you agree with the pardon of CZ, the founder of Binance, who helped funnel money into Moss? Do you agree with the pardon?"
"There's, there's no question that don't do the politician thing. There's no question that Donald Trump has been pro-crypto. He ran on saying crypto. We're going to pass the Genius Act, which they did. We're going to deregulate crypto. That we're going to have crypto term. We're going to be the crypto capital. It's no. Hunter Biden is pro-painting. Hunter Biden didn't hide the facts. He may have may not. Wait, Donald Trump is pardoned. We talk about pardons. Let's not forget the fact that the previous president had to pardon his son for crime. What about the fact that he removed terror? President didn't have to do that when he left office."
"Can I just have? Okay, not yet. I just, I just have a couple questions. So, I don't think that public official or officials should be making money that on the backs of the American people or, um, using the American interest to make money. Perhaps Joe, Hunter Biden did it, and perhaps Donald Trump is doing it. But I actually wonder if the American people actually care. I'm not sure that they do. So if we want to concede the point that they're like, you know what, you're the president. We live in a capitalist society. Let's do it. I think my biggest issue is that Americans are suffering right now, and he just made a billion dollars. And so the people who voted for him, I just want to ask them, does he have your? Did you make a billion? Did you make a million? Did you make a hundred thousand? Did you make $10,000? Did you make $1,000? Or are you in debt right now? And if you're in debt right now, the man in the White House is profiting off of you. And that is my biggest issue. The corruption is there, but I'm not sure the voters care about that. But I do think the voters care about them suffering while this man gets rich on it."
"So, to Ashley's point, um, just on this, uh, the crypto ventures that they've been involved in, Trump launched this meme coin that was actually heavily, uh, supported by just regular people who Trump supporters. Yeah. Just Trump supporters, right? And when you look at this chart, what it shows you is that the red line is what investors, a lot of them regular people, made from this crypto venture. It goes into the negatives, negative $2.8 billion, $2.28 billion. The Trump Organization, on the other hand, they're in the positive. They've made $2.29 billion."
"So, Elizabeth, look, Ashley is making an important point. Even if you don't care about the perception of corruption, about the perception of self-dealing, that the president is making policy that he directly benefits from, if you're one of his supporters, shouldn't it bother you that he was enriched while you were ripped off?"
"You know, it's an interesting question because I can tell you, as someone who's traveled the country on the campaign, I've talked to his supporters. I talked to thousands, probably, of his supporters, many of whom told me one of the sole reasons they were voting for him was because he was a billionaire who they believed had made enough money and proven himself that they wanted him in that Oval Office. I don't think anyone thinks he's profiting off of them. I think they think that he is leading the charge and trying to show people what it means to actually do something different. Joe talked about crypto and what it means to be the crypto president, how it, you know, he's tried to embrace crypto in a way no one else has. He's leading the charge, and I think most Americans believe in him. I don't think anyone that voted for him believes he's trying to make money while they are suffering."
"I'll say, I'll say, can I just say, I think maybe he's not profiting off of them, but he's profiting without them. I, I don't think so. I think most people that voted for him believe that he's trying to make the kind of, at the same time, they're not. Things are getting better. You haven't seen a guy run for office talking about deregulating crypto and talking about how we should be in crypto. Right. It's totally fair. And if that's what, that's all my point to you is, if you didn't see that and read the tea leaves and say, 'Darn, I should probably put a couple of dollars in Bitcoin.' What about Trumpcoin? And they lost. You put the money there. Look, it seems we have, we have a president who has made a policy point to deregulate crypto. That's a fundamentally good thing for our. Conflating issues. I think I think more. But this isn't well in the president's benefit. This isn't really. I'm going to let, um, Camille in. But this isn't really about, oh, he's deregulating crypto. He is, um, profiting off of making regulatory moves that directly benefit his family's companies. And, and I think the more concerning thing is that a huge sum of this wealth that we just described comes from a deal with a foreign nation. Okay, the, usually the UAE is involved in a deal that basically bought out the Trump family crypto company, more than half of the company, leaving the the Trump family massively richer. And it turns out Donald Trump personally himself. So, I mean, that's, I mean, when the, the founders talked about, um, you know, preventing presidents from basically enriching themselves off of the presidency, this is basically what I mean. They weren't envisioning crypto, but they were envisioning things like this from foreign, foreign government. Yeah."
"I'd say this. Look, during the first term, it was entirely defensible to talk about Donald Trump's track record of having made all of this money, his vast real estate holdings, the expectation that his family was still going to be in business. Fine. I can accept that. What's happened subsequently is something else entirely. His sons are enriching themselves, investing in rare earth minerals. They're now defense contractors, and, and now they're crypto tycoons. They didn't have a competency for any of these industries before. Now, there is so much credible reporting at this point on an almost daily, weekly basis now of them having insider information and making trades and dealing with companies who are directly involved with the administration. Joe keeps talking about the big guy email. Um, the New York Times's story about this mining deal. Uh, the president directly negotiated this contract, uh, between the, this mining company that his sons are invested in, and the United States government. It's not a cryptic email. It's an actual phone call with the president on the line, and his sons stand to benefit from it."
"A, a Democratic president has a son who may be enriching himself from insider information of the government and benefiting off of that information. Is that wrong? Kickback to the president? Yes. A Republican president? Is there a kickback to the president? Yeah, it's wrong. Okay. I think if you apply the fact pattern here, they're the same fact pattern. So, your answer should have been easy these last three rounds of questions. If the."
"Go ahead. Can I just say, this entire conversation is infuriating. If there was a Biden coin or an Obama coin, consumers would be baldled up in a curl. Bald up in, you'd be curled up in a ball crying. I would not be doing ads for it. It's not just that Donald Trump has enriched himself. It is that he's sold access to the presidency. He's created the executive club. He's allowed tariffs to dictate foreign policy in such a way where he teared Vietnam, removed the tariffs, and then one week later, he got a $1.2 billion golf course. You want to know about the quid pro quo? We gave the UAE access to a bunch of very special chips the same week that they invested $2 billion in Donald Trump's personal crypto firm. Do you condemn that? Do you condemn the pardoning of CZ? Do you condemn Justin Sun, who scammed Americans and then was allowed back into the United States after Trump dropped an investigation? Is any of this above board?"
"Yeah, I mean, look, again, if you have the evidence that there is a quid pro quo crime, then bring it to."
"What if I present the evidence and you just reject it? You reject it entirely. People did bring crimes, and he was convicted of felony."
"Trump's corruption using conjecture and innuendo. It's not conjecture. I wonder if we could disc. I don't know. I mean, look, the, the numbers are on a piece of paper, and as you point out, it's disclosed. It's not like."
"You're right. It's not like they're hiding the sums of money. M. It's billions of dollars. The reason we know is public disclosure, right? It's not conjecture. That's a problem. Just because it's public, is it okay? Is it against the law? Can we acknowledge that it's profoundly unseemly for the president? You don't have to be making money. I would prefer the president not make money. That's the. We'll get."