Donald Trump Has Used His Presidency to Profit $1.4 Billion in Just One Year, Report Claims

President Donald Trump built his public identity in business long before he entered politics. Now, in his second term, a new critique argues he has blended the two in ways that generate extraordinary personal wealth.

This week, The New York Times’ editorial board published an assessment of Trump’s finances that opens with a blunt charge: “President Trump has never been a man to ask what he can do for his country. In his second term, as in his first, he is instead testing the limits of what his country can do for him.”

The editorial board estimates Trump has earned $1,408,500,000 since returning to office a year ago. It also argues that figure is likely low, writing, “We know this number to be an underestimate because some of his profits remain hidden from public view. And they continue to grow.”

Even with details of some arrangements out of sight, the Times piece suggests Trump has made little effort to separate political power from business momentum.

Earlier this month, the Trump Organization announced expanded real estate plans in Saudi Arabia, with developments totaling $10 billion. The move came less than two months after Trump hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House — a visit that drew criticism, including renewed focus on the 2018 C.I.A. assessment that the crown prince ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

When reporters raised Khashoggi’s name, Trump defended the crown prince.

“You’re mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about,” Trump said of Khashoggi. “Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen. But [the prince] knew nothing about it. You don’t have to embarrass our guest.”

Trump also dismissed questions about whether his public posture toward Saudi leadership intersected with his family’s business interests.

“I have nothing to do with the family business,” he insisted. “What my family does is fine. They do business all over. They’ve done very little with Saudi Arabia, actually. They could do a lot.”

The Times report points to other examples, too. It notes that Trump agreed to lower threatened tariffs on Vietnam shortly after the Trump Organization broke ground on a $1.5 billion golf complex outside Hanoi.

Trump and first lady Melania Trump have also entered the filmmaking arena. The article says the couple earned $28 million from Amazon for the rights to her upcoming documentary, Melania. The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon — led by billionaire Jeff Bezos — acquired the rights after a $1 million donation to Trump’s reelection campaign.

The report also highlights major gifts, including a $400 million jet from Qatar that Trump plans to use as Air Force One — and to keep after leaving office. The jet was gifted in May 2025, weeks after the Trump Organization reached a deal to build a luxury golf resort in Doha. Months later, Qatar reportedly received approval from the Trump administration to build a facility at an Air Force base in Idaho.

During a prior visit to Doha, Trump praised the country and its leadership.

“We are gonna protect this country,” he said. “It’s a very special place with a special royal family… It’s great people and they’re gonna be protected by the United States.”

Still, the Times report argues the biggest financial engine by far has been cryptocurrency.

When Forbes reported in September 2025 that Trump had increased his net worth by $3 billion over the prior year, it said $2 billion of that gain was tied to crypto — split between his World Liberty Financial company and a meme coin. Because some tokens can be locked and not immediately tradeable, precise totals are difficult to pin down. Even so, the Times report estimates the family — including 19-year-old Barron Trump, who it says introduced his father to cryptocurrency — has made at least $867 million through various crypto ventures.

“All told,” the Times wrote, “Mr. Trump has profited from his return to the presidency by an amount of money equal to 16,822 times the median U.S. household income.”

The scrutiny arrives as Trump continues to paint a rosy picture of the economy. In a recent interview with Politico, he gave the economy an “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus,” even as polls cited in the piece indicate many Americans describe economic conditions as “weak.”

Trump has repeatedly blamed any lingering pain on his predecessor, President Joe Biden.

“I inherited a total mess. Prices were at an all-time high when I came in,” he told Politico’s Dasha Burns last month. “Prices are coming down substantially… It’s amazing what we’ve done.”