Severity 4 — Severe🔴 corruption03 July 2026

$2.2 Billion in a Year, and "My Kids Have Inside Information"

A 927-page federal financial disclosure published 30 June 2026 showed Trump earned more than $2.2 billion in his first year back in office, over $1.4 billion of it from crypto ventures including World Liberty Financial token sales and CIC Digital's meme-coin business. Days later, defending his sons' business dealings on CNBC, Trump said that because the presidency is "so powerful, so big," almost anything his children buy — even "an energy efficient truck" — means "they have inside information." He said Eric Trump handles his portfolio and that he doesn't discuss it with him.

Republican Party logo

Donald Trump — Republican Party

In power 2025–present

What happened

The disclosure, filed with the US Office of Government Ethics and published 30 June 2026, gave the fullest picture yet of the commercial expansion documented in [[The Trump Family Crypto Empire]] above: more than $1.4 billion in crypto-related income for 2025, including over $500 million from World Liberty Financial token sales and over $600 million from CIC Digital LLC, the entity behind Trump-branded meme coins. New revenue lines not present in his first term — Trump-branded Bibles, sneakers, watches ($4.7 million alone) — pushed total reported income for the year past $2.2 billion, with crypto now exceeding real estate as the largest single component of Trump's disclosed wealth.

Asked about the arrangement on CNBC on 2 July 2026, Trump said he has no involvement in or knowledge of the investment decisions behind that income: "I don't do anything having to do with my business. My kids run it... My son Eric handles it. I don't talk to him about things such as this." Pressed further on conflicts of interest, he volunteered that his children are effectively barred from ordinary financial life because of who their father is: "Almost anything they do, if they want to buy a truck, if they want to buy, you know, they buy an energy efficient truck, they have inside information." He used a similar example involving a hypothetical cupcake company and his own energy policy.

Trump did not divest his business holdings or place them in a blind trust on taking office, unlike the practice of prior presidents, and the criminal conflict-of-interest statute that applies to other executive branch employees (18 U.S.C. § 208) does not apply to the president or vice president. Trump maintained there was "nothing illegal" and "nothing wrong" with the crypto income. Ethics specialists and Congressional Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, pointed to the remark as an unusually direct acknowledgment — however casually offered — of exactly the structural conflict-of-interest problem critics have raised since the [[The Trump Family Crypto Empire]] entry: a sitting president's family business is transacting in markets his own administration regulates, with no legal firewall in place.

Source

ABC News — Trump Says His Kids Handle His Investments: There's "Nothing Illegal"

🌍 See this event in context

This event is one entry in United States's accountability record. Open the interactive map to see the full timeline, polling data, and every documented event.

🌍 View on the map