What happened
President Donald Trump took in at least $2.2 billion in revenue last year, including $1.4 billion from his family’s cryptocurrency ventures, according to a mandatory annual filing released Tuesday.
Trump’s “traditional businesses — in particular golf courses and resorts — continued to bring in millions,” Reuters said, but he “now derives most of his income from digital assets that have benefited from his policies.” Trump’s reported 2024 income was $622 million.
Who said what
Trump’s new disclosure lists $635 million in royalties from $TRUMP memecoins and $799 million from token sales and other income from World Liberty Financial. “Both the tokens and the coins have plunged in value since the sales,” The Associated Press said. A Reuters analysis last month found that Trump’s family crypto ventures raked in at least $2.3 billion in profits during his second term, while their investors lost $2.3 billion.
Trump’s open pursuit of profit in office is “completely unprecedented,” presidential wealth historian Megan Gorman told The New York Times. It’s a “betrayal of the American social contract: that those who lead the country prioritize country over self.” Trump has never “engaged — or will ever engage — in conflicts of interest,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement.
What next?
Presidents are exempt from the conflict-of-interest laws governing most federal workers, former federal ethics office chief Dan Fox told Reuters. But Trump “makes the case better than anyone that it’s time for additional ethics reforms.”
The president’s pursuit of profit in office is ‘completely unprecedented’