Key Takeaways
- The Trump family reportedly profited nearly $4 billion from the presidency, primarily during the second term.
- These gains encompass diverse ventures, including merchandise, media, hospitality, finance, and cryptocurrency holdings.
- Experts state this scale of in-office financial gain by a U.S. president is historically unprecedented.
- The White House stated former President Trump did not profit, but did not dispute that money was made.
Deep Dive
- New Yorker writer David Kirkpatrick reported the Trump family's financial situation improved substantially in the second term, with nearly $4 billion profit in about one year.
- The $4 billion figure includes profits made by former President Trump's sons, wife Melania, and son-in-law.
- Kirkpatrick explicitly excluded deals likely to have occurred regardless of the presidency or from pre-existing businesses.
- NPR's Planet Money aimed to meticulously count the minimum amount of profit, also totaling nearly $4 billion.
- The discussion highlighted the founding fathers' intent for presidential salaries to prevent personal gain and corruption, noting Trump is the first to profit extensively during his term.
- Fred Wertheimer asserted the scale of profit by President Trump's sons far exceeds historical examples of presidential relatives benefiting.
- Past presidents, such as Lyndon B. Johnson and Warren G. Harding, had conflicts of interest but with less significant financial gains compared to Trump.
- Fred Wertheimer stated that Trump's second-term policies directly benefited his and his family's businesses, a practice not seen in previous U.S. presidencies.
- The second term reportedly saw significant financial profit, contrasting with the first term's modest gains of a few hundred million dollars.
- Key areas of increased wealth included merchandise, cryptocurrency, and Gulf real estate deals.
- Merchandise sales generated an estimated $27.7 million, with profits directed into personal accounts.
- An additional $100 million in legal defense funds was reportedly converted from campaign money, bringing combined merchandise and legal fees to $127.7 million.
- The 'media' category, including Truth Social, a movie about Melania Trump, and lawsuits, yielded an estimated $91 million, with Truth Social contributing approximately $25 million.
- Hospitality deals, including Mar-a-Lago, generated an estimated $125 million, calculated from increased initiation fees after the 2016 election.
- International hotel deals, such as the Trump Hotel in Vietnam, contributed an estimated $40 million.
- Persian Gulf hotel operations, including a 30-year contract in Oman, estimated $105.8 million, considered extraordinary without presidential status.
- The Qatari Royal Jet, valued at $150 million, was included as a potential benefit, intended for the Trump Presidential Library.
- Jared Kushner's post-presidency private equity venture secured a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia, leading to an estimated $320 million personal gain despite an advisory board's negative assessment.
- Don Jr.'s involvement with 1789 Capital resulted in an estimated $19.6 million gain.
- Cryptocurrency ventures included $14.4 million from Trump NFTs, $974.5 million from World Liberty Financial digital tokens, and $243 million from selling USD1 stablecoin to the UAE government.
- The Trump brothers founded American Bitcoin, a mining company, with their 20% share estimated at $115 million.
- Former President Trump's 41% stake in Trump Media, parent of Truth Social, was valued at $1.3 billion in Bitcoin and cash, later estimated at $1.08 billion due to Bitcoin price changes.
- A Trump meme coin generated an estimated $385 million.
- The White House, via Press Secretary Caroline Levitt, stated former President Trump did not profit from the presidency and sacrificed personal financial gain, though they did not dispute money was being made.
- Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21 stated the U.S. has never seen a president make as much money as former President Trump while in office.
- The emoluments clause, restricting payment from governments and gifts from foreign leaders, was a focus during Trump's first term; the DC Hotel generated no estimated profit due to these concerns.