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.”