Written by: Josh Meyer, USA Today
Translated and Compiled by: BitpushNews
On his second day in office, the U.S. President Donald Trump was asked whether he would continue to profit from personal business activities, after his launched "Trump Meme Coin" ($TRUMP) had once soared to a market value of $20 billion.
"I don't know much about it, only that I launched it," Trump responded. "I've heard it's successful. I haven't checked yet. How much is it worth now?"
"You've made a lot of money, sir," the reporter pressed, "It seems to be in the billions over the past few days."
"Billions? For these guys, it's just small change," Trump said, pointing to a group of tech billionaires at the White House event.
Trump never clearly stated whether he would stop profiting from his presidential status - historians note that almost all former U.S. presidents have promised to avoid such behavior.
[The rest of the translation follows the same professional and accurate approach]
Historically, presidents have always promised not to profit personally during their term, ensuring policy decisions are made for national interests rather than personal gains, thus winning public trust.
Danielle Bryan, Chair of the Government Oversight Project, said: "This is no longer the case." "President Trump explicitly stated that he would make as much money as possible while being president - he makes no attempt to hide this."
Adam Schiff, a California Democratic Senator and former federal prosecutor, is among several Democratic senators calling for the government ethics office to investigate Trump's crypto businesses, including whether his strategic Bitcoin reserve established in March improperly benefited his own investments.
In a video posted on X, Schiff said: "Donald Trump has made a lot of money, and the only losers are the American people."
For Trump, who claims to be the first "crypto president", $TRUMP is just part of a broader empire that also includes a meme coin for First Lady Melania Trump, which initially had a value of billions of dollars.
In another business, the Trump family quietly gained control of World Liberty Financial in January, a crypto company that raised $550 million by selling its digital currency $WLFI. Reuters reported in March that the Trump family obtained most of these funds with terms that industry experts believed favored insiders.
According to the company's website and Reuters, the Trump family now has the right to receive 75% of World Liberty Financial token sales net income, 60% of operating income, and approximately $400 million in transaction fees.
WLF Responds: "Completely Unrelated to Politics"
David Waxman, a spokesperson for World Liberty Financial, told USA Today that he could not comment on how much money Trump and his family have made from this business.
He said accusations of conflicts of interest or corruption were "extreme, top-level exaggeration, completely wrong and false". Waxman described World Liberty as a "non-political organization. We are completely unrelated to politics."
Trump's personal stake in the company, whose motto is "Inspired by Donald J. Trump", remains unclear.
In calling for an investigation, Schiff mentioned crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, who injected $75 million into World Liberty Financial.
Justin Sun has faced a civil fraud case from US securities regulators, involving celebrities like Lindsay Rohan, Jake Paul, and rapper Soulja Boy.
Schiff said in his video: "Unsurprisingly, the fraud case against Justin Sun was shelved by the Trump administration. The American people now cannot tell whether this administration is acting on behalf of the American people or Donald Trump's economic interests."
William Sharon, Justin Sun's lawyer, did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment.
As of May 1st, Justin Sun - estimated to have invested $14 million - was among the top investors on the $TRUMP meme coin website, qualifying for a private dinner with Trump.
In recent months, World Liberty has also ventured into other businesses.
On May 1st, Zack Wittkoff, one of World Liberty's co-founders, announced that their "USD1 stablecoin" is being used as an "official stablecoin" by an Abu Dhabi company for a $2 billion investment in Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange. (A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency whose value is anchored to another asset - such as the US dollar.)
Wittkoff said they were "excited" about this new transaction. Wittkoff is the son of Steve Wittkoff, Trump's chief diplomatic envoy, close friend, and billionaire developer.
According to CoinMarketCap data, the USD1 token's total value reached approximately $2.1 billion as of April 30th, making it one of the world's fastest-growing stablecoins, Reuters reported, adding that "however, the identity of its main holders remains unclear".
Wittkoff said World Liberty now also has business dealings with Justin Sun. Justin Sun attended a crypto conference in Dubai on May 1st with Wittkoff and Eric Trump.
Golf Properties and Saudi Arabia
Bryan, Weithheimer, and others say that since Trump's White House financial disclosure form is not due to be submitted to the government ethics office until mid-May, it is currently impossible to know how much money Trump has earned from various sources.
According to a CREW report, during his first term, foreign governments spent millions at Trump's hotels and golf courses, with his businesses earning up to $160 million from foreign sources.
Rick Kleptler from Public Citizen asked: "But in that case, at least you stayed in a hotel room. When you invest $5 million in these Trump meme coins, what value is there except putting money in the president's pocket?"
Trump sold his hotel in Washington. But he still profits from foreign spending at his golf properties. Saudi Arabia's LIV Golf Tour has hosted seven tournaments at Trump's courses, despite Trump pressuring the more established PGA Tour to merge with LIV - a move beneficial to Saudi Arabia.
The PGA Tour rejected LIV's latest billion-dollar offer in early April.
"But I hope we will bring these two tours together," Trump told reporters on Air Force One. "You have the PGA Tour and the LIV Tour. I think merging them would be a good thing."
Despite Truth Social reporting losses, Trump's stake in the platform dramatically increased during his presidency. On April 2nd, the company filed documents with securities regulators allowing Trump's trust to sell approximately $2.3 billion in stock.
Massive Controversy Around "Paid Presidential Circle"
Last month, during the White House Correspondents' Dinner, Donald Trump Jr. co-hosted a launch party for his "The Executive Branch" private club, with membership fees exceeding $500,000.
Politico, citing people familiar with the project, said its goal was to "cater to business and tech giants hoping to cultivate relationships with the Trump administration".
On April 30th, Senator Chris Murphy displayed large charts in the Senate, condemning Trump's "corruption during his hundred days in office", calling the TRUMP coin "the biggest scandal in US presidential history".
As the May mid-month financial disclosure deadline approaches, the controversy surrounding presidential business interests will continue to simmer. The White House insists all actions are legal, but oversight organizations emphasize that Trump has broken the historical tradition of "presidents not making policy for personal gain".
"Trump has explicitly stated he wants to maximize profit using his presidential status," summarized Danielle Bryan, Chair of the Government Oversight Project, "and he makes no attempt to hide it."
