How much money President Trump and his family have made
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is Planet Money from NPR. We are one year into President Donald Trump's second term, and some things are really different this time around.
Going over some math to be all up to date.
That's New Yorker reporter David Kirkpatrick.
Now, as we go through this, I turn pages. Is that a problem?
What financial challenges did Trump face before his presidency?
No. No, I think we actually like that sound.
Oh, is that right? Okay. All right. Okay. Fine.
David has been doing the near impossible task of following every new business and business deal and financial transaction that Trump and his family have made this past year and in the first term. And he's noticed this shift.
You know, in the first term, they said voluntarily, we're not going to do any hotel or other business deals overseas because that would be bad optically. That's gone. That's out the window. This term, they've done deals all over the place overseas.
In the first term, we actually said, we're not going to do any foreign deals.
That's Donald Trump Jr. talking.
And the reality is it didn't stop the media from constantly saying, you're profiteering anyway. It was like we stopped entirely. So this time around we said, hey, we're going to play by the rules, but we're not going to go so far as to stymie our business forever, lock ourselves in a proverbial padded room, because it almost doesn't matter. They're going to hit you no matter what.
So effectively, they've just said, since we're going to get criticized, we might as well take the money and run. And that's when they started making money kind of hand over fist.
And it's not just foreign hotel deals or other investments from abroad. It's crypto, merch, President Trump's social media platform that he makes official White House announcements on.
In fact, it's hard to find a case where they've turned down an opportunity to make money off the presidency.
Okay, before Trump's first term, David says Trump was in a tight spot financially. He was losing income from licensing and endorsements. And at the beginning of his second term, he was in an even tighter spot, David says. At the time, he owed hundreds of millions in fraud and defamation lawsuits.
But after just six months into his second term, Trump's financial situation started looking real good, like real good. Just zoop, shot up in six months. Let's just get the number out there. What is like the total amount?
Yeah, I'd say approaching $4 billion.
Almost $4 billion. That is the number, according to David. That is how much Trump and his family have made by this point in his second term. Almost $4 billion.
And almost all of it made this past year. And disclaimer, this isn't just money that Trump himself has made, but his sons too. And then there's some in there that his wife Melania and son-in-law have also made. there's no real way to detangle Trump from his family. Because even though Trump has transferred management of the Trump Organization to his sons, Trump still profits from the business deals that they make. And Trump can withdraw profits or assets whenever he wants.
Now, David says... He went out of his way to not include money that the family would have made if Trump were not president. So he didn't count many deals, some big ones, that he says would likely have happened anyway. And he didn't count profit made from like regular pre-existing businesses.
Somebody just likes to stay in a fancy hotel with lots of gilding. Okay, fine. That's legit. He owned those properties before. We'll call that fair. That's not making money off of the presidency. The only deals that I've focused on are the ones where it was just inconceivable that Trump or his family would have made this money, would have done this deal, sold this crypto or agreed to manage this property for some lucrative contract if he weren't the president.
One of the reasons presidents get a salary is supposed to be so that they don't worry about personal gain. The founding fathers also wanted to prevent presidents from being susceptible to corruption.
But, I mean, a lot of presidents, Republican and Democrat, have made money after their president, once they leave office.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–0:22
2
What financial challenges did Trump face before his presidency?
0:22–7:10
3
How did Trump's financial situation change during his second term?
7:10–8:55
4
What are the major sources of income for Trump and his family during his presidency?
8:55–26:30
5
How did Trump leverage his presidency for business deals?
26:30–30:50