The Dictatorship
Bessent defends proposal to put Trump’s face on new $250 bill
Amid growing concerns about the cost of living as the war with Iran continues, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday defended the Trump administration’s efforts to put President Donald Trump on a specially issued $250 bill.
“I don’t think that there’s anything untoward about having the president of the United States, the person who is president of the United States, on the 250th anniversary bill,” Bessent said during a White House press briefing as he stood in for press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is on maternity leave.
Bessent acknowledged The Washington Post’s earlier reporting that two Treasury Department appointees are pressuring the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to create a prototype of the note.
Federal law “prohibits the portrait or likeness of any living person on currency notes, bonds, or securities,” but some lawmakers are searching for a workaround. Bessent said the proposed new Trump note is ultimately up to Congress.
Reps. Joe Wilson, R-S.C.; Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn.; Ralph Norman, R-S.C.; and Darrell Issa, R-Calif., co-sponsored a bill in February of last year to create an exemption. Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, sponsored a similar bill one month later for a $100 Trump note.
“This achievement is deserving of currency recognition, which is why I am grateful to introduce this legislation. The most valuable bill for the most valuable President!” Wilson said in a statement announcing his bill.
But the effort to memorialize Trump on money does not stop at his face. The Treasury announced in March that Trump’s and Bessent’s signatures will appear on future U.S. paper currencymarking the first time in history for a sitting president.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was among the critics who derided the proposed $250 note on social media, saying, “By the end of Trump’s term, it’ll be just enough to buy one gallon of gas and a carton of eggs.”
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.