Donald Trump has gained wealth as president, not lost it

In a warm-up speech before President Donald Trump addressed Oklahoma rally-goers, Homeland Security secretary Markwayne Mullin told the crowd in his home state that Trump took a financial hit to serve as president. 

“He doesn’t have to do this,” Mullin, a former U.S. senator, said at the Oct. 1 rally in Durant. “There’s no financial gain like the past presidents have had. It’s cost him to be in office.”

That’s not what Trump told the federal government.

His 927-page financial disclosure form for 2025 shows at least $1.4 billion in cryptocurrency revenue alone.

A New York Times analysis estimated that overall, Trump “pulled in at least $2.2 billion” in 2025. That was up from $622 million in 2024, which was before he began his second term.

And a September analysis by Forbes — which has been tracking the holdings of the super-wealthy for decades — found that Trump “is an estimated $2.7 billion richer than when he won the 2024 election.” The Forbes analysis runs through 2026.

“2025 was the most lucrative year of Trump’s life, by far,” said Robert Maguire, vice president of research and data at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, an advocacy group that has sued Trump and his administration over such issues as foreign emoluments and a proposed fund to compensate people who experienced what Trump called “government weaponization.”

“There is essentially no scenario, based on public information, where the presidency hasn’t made Donald Trump far richer than he’s ever been,” Maguire said.

White House says to look at Trump’s first term

Mullin’s department did not respond to our questions about his remarks, but the White House did.

In a statement to PolitiFact, the White House cited Forbes data showing Trump’s net worth fell from $3.7 billion in 2016 — the year before his first term — to $2.5 billion in 2021, the year after he left the White House. That’s a 32% decline in net worth during his first term. (For comparison, the median U.S. household net worth with members at least 75 years old — which is close to Trump’s age — is $335,600.)

Mullin’s statement would have been accurate if he’d said it in 2021. But Trump’s financial picture is vastly different in 2026. 

Forbes currently calculates Trump’s net worth at $7 billion. That’s almost double the $3.7 billion Trump held before he became president the first time, and it’s also far above his pre-presidential high of $4.5 billion in 2015.

The White House also said Trump has not taken a salary. The White House hasn’t always provided documentation of this, but even if it’s correct, that’s only $400,000 a year foregone — a tiny fraction of Trump’s $2.2 billion in 2025 revenues. 

Cryptocurrency accounts for a clear majority of Trump’s 2025 revenue, bringing in $1.4 billion. His 2025 disclosure showed another $400 million from sources such as real estate, legal settlements, overseas licensing agreements and branded merchandise such as watches and footwear.

Could Trump’s added expenses have canceled out his gains?

Experts said it was unlikely that the $2.2 billion or more that Trump has taken in would have been gobbled up by added expenses from being president.

“The only extra expenses I think he could possibly have incurred as president would come from things like extra security costs or travel, but the taxpayers have footed the bill to increase security at the president’s private properties,” said Danielle Caputo, senior legal counsel for ethics with the Campaign Legal Center, which tracks campaign finance and ethics issues.

MAGA Inc., a Trump-aligned super PAC, has reported paying for some of Trump’s travel, but that’s not considered Trump’s own money, Caputo said. “I don’t think that either could account for $1.6 billion in expenses,” Caputo said.

As for traditional overhead expenses that might stem from Trump’s businesses, Maguire said that the biggest sources of revenue disclosed in Trump’s 2025 form are from enterprises that are relatively free of overhead, such as cryptocurrency and licensing deals. These are “about as close to pure income that you can get,” Maguire said.

How do previous presidents compare?

Trump entered office both times with the highest net worth of any recent president — $3.7 billion the first time and $3.9 billion the second time. The next closest was John F. Kennedy, who had family wealth; pre-presidency, Kennedy is estimated to have been worth $100 million in inflation-adjusted dollars. 

Two recent Democratic presidents — Bill Clinton and Barack Obama — saw their net worth skyrocket after leaving office. They both entered office with an estimated $1.3 million and finished up their tenures with $120 million and $70 million, respectively. 

Those are significant increases, but Trump’s wealth has grown by far more.

Our ruling

Mullin said that for Trump, “There’s no financial gain like the past presidents have had. It’s cost him to be in office.” 

Trump’s own financial disclosure form shows he made at least $2.2 billion in revenues in 2025, up from $622 million in 2024, before he began his second term. A Forbes analysis estimated that Trump is $2.7 billion richer than in 2024.

It’s not plausible that overhead or added expenses could have consumed all that extra income, experts said. And the scale of Trump’s presidential wealth gains dwarf those of recent presidents.

From the best information we have, Mullin’s comment is off by more than $1 billion. We rate the statement Pants on Fire!