Trump Rakes In Billions: “Corruption [With] Few Rivals In…History”
NEWS & RESEARCH
According to the financial disclosure that presidents are required to submit to the US Office of Government Ethics every year, Donald Trump made $2.2 billion in 2025 alone, raising major concerns that he is using his position in the Oval Office to fill his own pockets. Aside from taking advantage of the position to launch a slew of products—from Trump-branded Bibles and watches to even a collectible cryptocurrency—he has also been involved in insider deals, such as when one of his administration’s departments gave its largest loan ever to a critical minerals startup called Vulcan Elements—which his son’s firm had invested in just months earlier. But in addition to the impact on Trump’s wallet, critics also worry that the president’s earnings are affecting public policy, as obvious conflicts of interest exist. For instance, Duke University lecturer Lee Reiners notes that more than $1 billion of Trump's revenue came from investments in the cryptocurrency industry, "while at the same time his administration is writing the rules of the road for how crypto will be regulated.” (Trump issued an executive order to ease crypto regulations in his first week in office.) Similarly, Trump earned about $300 million in 2025 from business deals in the Middle East, while his administration was simultaneously negotiating with countries in the region over tariffs and military aid.
SOURCES: New York Times | Washington Post | US News | Washington Times | CBC
ANALYSIS & OPINION
Trump’s actions are wholly unprecedented. His financial disclosure ran 927 pages. In comparison, Joe Biden’s disclosure was 11 pages, and Barack Obama’s was eight. Before Trump, every single US president since the 1970s had moved their assets into a blind trust, so that they would have no idea where their money was being invested and avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest. Obama’s team didn’t allow him to refinance his family home in Chicago—which would have lowered his monthly mortgage costs by hundreds of dollars—because he was regulating the banks. Trump has no such moral qualms, allowing his sons to control his finances. Richard Painter, a former chief ethics attorney under President George W. Bush, said, “[Trump] is the first president that we’ve seen with substantial conflict of interest with his official duties since the Civil War,” when presidents who owned slaves were deciding US slavery policy. Obama’s former ethics czar, Norm Eisen, agreed, saying, “It’s corruption on a scale that, to be honest, has few rivals in world history.”
SOURCES: New York Times | Washington Post | Brennan Center for Justice | US News | Washington Times | CBC
HOW TO FIX IT
Federal action:
Close the conflict-of-interest loophole and make blind trusts law. Pass the Presidential Conflicts of Interest Accountability Act, which would amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to require that presidents and vice presidents sell off their business interests and place the proceeds in a blind trust—an account managed by an independent trustee the president cannot see or direct. Since every president dating back to the 1970s used one until Trump, this would turn a good-faith tradition into binding law. It would also close the loophole that exempts the president and vice president from the conflict-of-interest statute (18 U.S.C. § 208) that binds every other executive branch official.
The bipartisan DIVEST Act is similar and would also be a step in the right direction, although it is narrower and only applies to stocks. The No Profiting from Public Service Act is another option—it too is limited to stocks and similar securities, but would extend the rules across all three branches of government.
Pass the Anti-Corruption Bureau Creation Act, which would create a new civil offense—corrupt enrichment—allowing citizens and state attorneys general to sue officials, including the president, to recover gains tied to misuse of office, such as foreign-government money, payments from parties seeking favors, and profits from insider knowledge. It would also create an enforcer to oversee federal ethics law that doesn't answer to the president. Currently, the government's ethics office polices the executive branch but reports to the president—so when the president himself is the problem, no one can hold him accountable. This bill would merge the government's scattered watchdogs into a single independent agency with subpoena power, its own funding, and leadership the president cannot fire. The BEACON Act would complement it by installing an inspector general inside the White House, the one major federal office with no internal investigator—catching misconduct as it happens rather than clawing back profits afterward.
Put the emoluments clauses into enforceable law. The Constitution bars presidents from accepting payments from foreign governments, but Trump has taken in hundreds of millions from sources linked to them. None of it has ever been ruled illegal, though, because every emoluments lawsuit died on procedural grounds. Also, “emolument” has never been defined by law, and the clause has no enforcement mechanism of its own. Thus, Congress should pass the Protecting Our Democracy Act, which would turn the constitutional ban into an enforceable statute and require candidates to release tax returns. To shut down pay-to-play schemes, it would also bar presidents from accepting payments—including through their businesses—from pardon recipients and presidential appointees, and bar those individuals from paying.
The No Foreign Emoluments Without Congressional Consent Act would go further, adding criminal penalties with prison time for accepting foreign government payments—including through business transactions—without congressional consent.
Ban officials from crypto self-dealing. Pass the End Crypto Corruption Act, which would prohibit the president, VP, senior executive officials, and members of Congress and their immediate families from financially benefiting from issuing, endorsing, or sponsoring crypto assets. The Modern Emoluments and Malfeasance Enforcement (MEME) Act and Stop TRUMP in Crypto Act take the same approach. All crypto-specific fixes are narrow, though, because the next scheme could use a different instrument.
Stop presidents from settling with themselves. Trump demanded $230 million from his own Justice Department over past investigations—a settlement his own appointees would have approved. He ultimately dropped the cash demand, but Congress should still pass the BLANCHE Act, which would bar a sitting president from collecting money-damages settlements from his own government and require a judge to independently review any such deal. The Ban Presidential Plunder of Taxpayer Funds Act would do the same for the president, VP, and immediate family.
Expand financial disclosure requirements. Although the president is subject to disclosure rules under the federal Ethics in Government Act, loopholes in those rules make it relatively easy to avoid full disclosure of assets, sources of income, and debts that could impact official decision-making. That means that Trump’s conflicts of interest are likely even worse than his 927-page document lets on. The Brennan Center recommends that Congress amend these rules, which often let financial entanglements escape scrutiny.
Legislation: H.R.7207 - Presidential Conflicts of Interest Accountability Act | H.R.1599 - DIVEST Act | H.R.9560 - No Profiting from Public Service Act | S.5183 - Anti-Corruption Bureau Creation Act | S.2219 - BEACON Act | H.R.8831 - Protecting Our Democracy Act | H.R.8485 - No Foreign Emoluments Without Congressional Consent Act | S.1668 - End Crypto Corruption Act | H.R.1712 - MEME Act | H.R.3573 - Stop TRUMP in Crypto Act | H.R.9210 - BLANCHE Act | S.4299 - Ban Presidential Plunder of Taxpayer Funds Act | H.R.8489 - Presidential Ethics Reform Act of 2024
NB: Legislation that refers to “family members” should be amended to use a broad definition of “relatives,” to extend to adult children, siblings, and in-laws—as the Presidential Ethics Reform Act of 2024 proposed.
