Trump Has No Conflicts of Interest

Friends,

In financial disclosures released Monday, Trump reported earning more than $1.4 billion last year from his several cryptocurrency ventures.

All told — including other parts of his vast holdings, such as his real estate assets —Trump pulled in at least $2.2 billion last year. That compares to a roughly $622 million his enterprises raked in for all of 2024, before he returned to the presidency.

In other words, it’s a fair guess that last year he made more than $1 billion off his presidency.

We’re talking big money and big looting.

Trump has conflicts of interest up the wazoo.

For example, Trump embraced crypto as a candidate in 2024. Then he and his family invested like mad in it — through CIC Digital — a Trump Organization affiliate that is behind his memecoin, $TRUMP. And through another Trump family-backed crypto company, World Liberty Financial, co-founded by Trump, his sons and the family of special envoy Steve Witkoff in the middle of the 2024 presidential campaign. World Liberty is now behind several prominent crypto tokens.

The problem here is more than potential conflicts of interest, more than the mere appearance of conflicts of interest. The conflicts are real, blatant, outrageous.

Since taking office, Trump has installed friendly regulators to oversee digital assets, and he’s pushed for landmark crypto legislation that would further free crypto from being treated as a security (in which case all sorts of disclosures would have to be made about it).

And this is just crypto. His investment accounts made more than 20,000 trades last year — and many appear to be timed to take maximum advantage of his public announcements that moved markets.

Just one day before he announced a 90-day pause on his sweeping tariffs, for example, his investment accounts made 327 individual stock purchases, each valued as much as $250,000. It was one of the largest single-day buys disclosed in Monday’s financial disclosures. The following day, when Trump announced the pause, the S&P soared nearly 10 percent — one of the biggest single-day gains in the index’s history.

He’s made a bundle from real estate deals that foreign governments have been eager to strike with him and his family, presumably because he’s given them — or will give them — something in return. Entities from the Persian Gulf paid around $300 million to Trump’s businesses last year, more than any other foreign region identifiable in his financial disclosures.

On Wednesday, he traveled to North Dakota on the maiden flight of the new Air Force One, a $400 million jet gifted to him by the Qatari royal family whose ownership will transfer to Trump when he leaves office (technically, it will go to Trump’s own presidential library foundation, but there’s nothing stopping him from using it for private purposes).

This is called corruption, folks. And it’s on a massive scale.

A White House spokesperson says neither Trump nor his family “has ever engaged — or will ever engage — in conflicts of interest.”

Oh please. Next we’ll be told Trump never tells a lie, either.

Conflicts of interest like these make it impossible for the public to judge whether Trump is working for America or for himself when he advocates for or implements a particular policy, such as his crypto policy or his moves in the Middle East.

We don’t even know for sure that Trump has disclosed all his investments. The financial disclosure made Tuesday was voluntary. Can anyone be certain Trump has come clean about all his conflicts of interest.

But perhaps the most troubling thing about all this is Trump doesn’t give a shite.

In his first term, when asked about conflicts of interest, he said, “the president can’t have a conflict of interest … because everything a president does in some ways is like a conflict of interest.”

He’s also said Americans “don’t care at all” about his unreleased tax returns or his personal finances.

Now, in his second term, he has nothing to lose by making as much money as possible off his presidency.

He probably figures he’s survived two impeachments so far, and won’t be impeached for pesky conflicts of interest. He won’t be running for the presidency again, so he doesn’t have to worry that his conflicts of interest will be used against him in a future campaign. Why not rake in as much as he can?

As to his historic legacy, Trump isn’t worried, either. He likely believes he can create his own history. That’s what he’s tried to do for the 2020 election and the subsequent attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. That’s what his “Presidential Walk of Fame” in the White House is all about — framed portraits of all U.S. presidents accompanied by Trump’s own partisan, gold-lettered plaques, many written by Trump himself.

In other words, we’re dealing with a malignant narcissist who thinks only about his own wealth and power, and about vengeance against those who have tried to stop him from acquiring even more.

How can we possibly expect that he’s working for the people of the United States rather than for himself?

Trump doesn’t have any conflicts of interest. That’s because he really has only one interest: himself.

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The 927-page document, released Tuesday, shows that

Trump made more than $636 million through CIC Digital — a Trump Organization affiliate that is behind his eponymous memecoin, $TRUMP. Most of that came through a licensing agreement that CIC Digital had with another entity called Celebration Coins.

Another Trump family-backed crypto company, World Liberty Financial, generated nearly $600 million in income, according to the disclosures. World Liberty was co-founded by Trump, his sons and the family of special envoy Steve Witkoff in the middle of the 2024 presidential campaign. It’s now behind several prominent crypto tokens.

The disclosures offer a new lens into how crypto is reshaping the president’s business empire — a vast portfolio of companies rooted in hotels, golf courses and licensing deals.

Trump’s deep involvement with digital assets, as a businessperson, has been an unexpected development to some. He was once a regular skeptic of crypto, calling it “a scam.” But his posture began to shift in 2024 — and has only accelerated following his return to the Oval Office last year. Trump has since installed crypto-friendly regulators to oversee Wall Street and pushed for landmark digital assets legislation, paving the way for crypto’s introduction into mainstream finance.

It has also drawn the ire of Democrats across Washington, who argue that he’s profiting off the presidency. Even some crypto executives and lobbyists have voiced alarm over the Trump family’s push into the market.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement to POLITICO that neither Trump nor his family “has ever engaged — or will ever engage — in conflicts of interest.”

“President Trump proudly made the United States the crypto capital of the world through executive actions, supporting legislation like the GENIUS Act, and other commonsense policies to drive innovation and economic opportunity for all Americans,” Kelly said. “All actions by President Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people.”

Trump, when asked about such concerns, said Wednesday that he’s profiting because “the stock market’s going up.”

“I’m profiting because I have a lot of money and a lot of cash,” he told reporters. His assets, he said, are overseen by financial institutions that he doesn’t speak with.

A spokesperson for the Trump Organization said the filing “represents one of the most comprehensive financial disclosure reports ever submitted and demonstrates a level of financial transparency unmatched in presidential history.”

Beyond crypto, Trump reported thousands of investments across the financial markets. His Mar-a-Lago Club, meanwhile, generated more than $77 million in income. It was valued at more than $50 million.

The disclosures also show more than $86 million in settlements of legal actions with media giants ABC, CBS, Meta, YouTube and X. They detail gifts that Trump received throughout the year that were worth more than $370,000 in total. Those included 10 tickets to the U.S. Open worth $25,000 that were gifted by Rolex; 10 tickets to the Super Bowl worth $50,000 from New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson; and a $250,000 statue of Trump from Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino, who is currently running for Congress in New York.

Vice President JD Vance’s financial disclosures, which were also released Tuesday, paint a far less sweeping picture than Trump’s. Totaling 17 pages, Vance’s reports show that the vice president earned more