From Truman's pension to Trump's billions - a White House windfall unmatched by any president
✓Harry Truman left the White House without any income other than his Army pension of $113 (£85) per month. The 33rd US president later wrote that it was wrong to "commercialize on the prestige and dignity of the office of the presidency".
George W Bush put his investments in a blind trust before running for president, and said in his last week in office that he had no idea how the 2008 economic crisis affected his net worth.
Donald Trump, in contrast, made at least $2.2bn (£1.7bn) in his first year back in office, according to a new financial disclosure report - a sum historians said was unprecedented and shattered the norm of US presidents avoiding financial conflicts of interest in the White House.
"There's just no precedent for this," said Barbara Perry, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia's Miller Center. "It's beyond anything we've ever seen in the presidency."
Trump's massive 2025 earnings laid bare just how much he has benefited from his return to office, through money-making ventures that often blurred the line between official government policymaking and private business dealings by the president, his family and close advisers.
Trump made $1.4bn in the cryptocurrency industry alone, according to the mandatory financial disclosure that was made public on Tuesday.
Trump reported $635m in royalties from Celebration Coins, the entity thought to be behind the $TRUMP meme coin he launched just before starting his second term.
The president also reported more than $500m from the cryptocurrency business World Liberty Financial. The firm was founded by his sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, and the sons of Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East and Ukraine.
Trump's 2025 income was nearly four times higher than the $622m he reported in 2024, the year before he returned to office.
The White House has denied that Trump and his family were profiting from the presidency.
"Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged - or will ever engage - in conflicts of interest," White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement.
Still, Trump has made a number of moves in the White House that have benefited his business as well as businesses tied to other senior administration officials.
Last July, Trump signed legislation supporting stablecoins, a form of cryptocurrency, just four months after World Liberty Financial launched its own digital currency venture. The firm made Trump at least $500m in 2025, according to his financial disclosure report.
Last October, Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire founder of the cryptocurrency firm Binance.
The move came as Trump praised the crypto industry in his first months back in office, after having dismissed it in the past as a "disaster waiting to happen".
Trump's family business and some close associates have profited in other industries beyond cryptocurrency since he returned to the White House.
Last year Trump struck a deal with the president of Kazakhstan giving an American company access to a major critical minerals project in the country, according to a New York Times report.
Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr later took a minority stake in a company involved in the mining project. The investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald - which is run by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's sons - also worked on the deal.
On Wednesday, Trump attributed his profits in office to stock market gains and claimed he was not involved in his family's business dealings.
"I don't get involved in my personal [finances], we have funds that run my money," Trump told reporters. "I've made a lot of money before I became president, and they invest my money, and I don't talk to them."
Ethics watchdogs argued Trump's profits from cryptocurrency in particular were problematic.
"Of course it's a conflict of interest," Richard Painter, the former chief White House ethics lawyer under George W Bush, told the BBC.
"This is a very, very troubling situation for the American people to see their president making so much money."
Read the full story at BBC ↗ · The Hill ↗
Donald Trump's financial disclosure for 2025 shows $2.2bn in reported income, marking a substantial increase from $622m in 2024. The majority came from cryptocurrency holdings: $1.4bn from the crypto industry, including $635m in royalties from a meme coin venture. Historians note this scale of presidential earnings is without precedent in US history. Trump's cryptocurrency profits coincided with administration actions that favoured the sector, including stablecoins legislation signed four months after one of his crypto ventures launched, and the pardon of a major crypto exchange founder. Trump family members also acquired stakes in a Kazakhstan mining project after the president negotiated access to critical minerals there. The White House states neither the president nor his family have engaged in conflicts of interest. Trump attributed his profits to stock market gains and said he does not manage his personal finances. Ethics experts and former White House counsel have characterised the situation as a conflict of interest.
Read the full story at BBC ↗ · The Hill ↗
Harry Truman left the White House without any income other than his Army pension of $113 (£85) per month. The 33rd US president later wrote that it was wrong to "commercialize on the prestige and dignity of the office of the presidency".
George W Bush put his investments in a blind trust before running for president, and said in his last week in office that he had no idea how the 2008 economic crisis affected his net worth.
Donald Trump, in contrast, made at least $2.2bn (£1.7bn) in his first year back in office, according to a new financial disclosure report - a sum historians said was unprecedented and shattered the norm of US presidents avoiding financial conflicts of interest in the White House.
"There's just no precedent for this," said Barbara Perry, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia's Miller Center. "It's beyond anything we've ever seen in the presidency."
Trump's massive 2025 earnings laid bare just how much he has benefited from his return to office, through money-making ventures that often blurred the line between official government policymaking and private business dealings by the president, his family and close advisers.
Trump made $1.4bn in the cryptocurrency industry alone, according to the mandatory financial disclosure that was made public on Tuesday.
Trump reported $635m in royalties from Celebration Coins, the entity thought to be behind the $TRUMP meme coin he launched just before starting his second term.
The president also reported more than $500m from the cryptocurrency business World Liberty Financial. The firm was founded by his sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, and the sons of Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East and Ukraine.
Trump's 2025 income was nearly four times higher than the $622m he reported in 2024, the year before he returned to office.
The White House has denied that Trump and his family were profiting from the presidency.
"Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged - or will ever engage - in conflicts of interest," White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement.
Still, Trump has made a number of moves in the White House that have benefited his business as well as businesses tied to other senior administration officials.
Last July, Trump signed legislation supporting stablecoins, a form of cryptocurrency, just four months after World Liberty Financial launched its own digital currency venture. The firm made Trump at least $500m in 2025, according to his financial disclosure report.
Last October, Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire founder of the cryptocurrency firm Binance.
The move came as Trump praised the crypto industry in his first months back in office, after having dismissed it in the past as a "disaster waiting to happen".
Trump's family business and some close associates have profited in other industries beyond cryptocurrency since he returned to the White House.
Last year Trump struck a deal with the president of Kazakhstan giving an American company access to a major critical minerals project in the country, according to a New York Times report.
Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr later took a minority stake in a company involved in the mining project. The investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald - which is run by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's sons - also worked on the deal.
On Wednesday, Trump attributed his profits in office to stock market gains and claimed he was not involved in his family's business dealings.
"I don't get involved in my personal [finances], we have funds that run my money," Trump told reporters. "I've made a lot of money before I became president, and they invest my money, and I don't talk to them."
Ethics watchdogs argued Trump's profits from cryptocurrency in particular were problematic.
"Of course it's a conflict of interest," Richard Painter, the former chief White House ethics lawyer under George W Bush, told the BBC.
"This is a very, very troubling situation for the American people to see their president making so much money."
Read the full story at BBC ↗ · The Hill ↗
Trump reported $2.2bn in income during his first year back in office This income was nearly four times his 2024 reported earnings of $622m $1.4bn came from cryptocurrency ventures alone, including $635m from a meme coin called $TRUMP Trump signed stablecoins legislation in July, four months after World Liberty Financial—a crypto firm in which he held at least $500m—launched its digital currency Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, founder of crypto exchange Binance, in October Eric and Donald Trump Jr acquired minority stakes in a Kazakhstan mining project after Trump negotiated critical minerals access Historians describe Trump's presidential earnings as unprecedented in scope The White House denies the president and his family have engaged in conflicts of interest Ethics experts and former White House counsel characterise the overlapping government decisions and business profits as conflicts of interest Trump attributed his profits to stock market gains and said he does not manage his personal finances
Read the full story at BBC ↗ · The Hill ↗
- Trump reported $2.2bn in income during his first year back in office, primarily from cryptocurrency ventures including $1.4bn from the crypto industry alone
- Trump's 2025 earnings were nearly four times higher than his 2024 income and represent an unprecedented financial windfall for a sitting US president
- Trump signed cryptocurrency-friendly legislation and pardoned a crypto industry figure whose company contributed to his reported earnings
- The White House denies conflicts of interest, while ethics experts argue the overlapping government decisions and business profits represent a clear conflict