The Trump Family and ‘Honest Graft’; Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2026

 

The Editorial Board , Wall Street Journal; The Trump Family and ‘Honest Graft’

They are profiting off the Presidency in ways that demean the office.

"Americans tell pollsters they don’t think they are getting ahead financially. But President Trump and his family are having no trouble, judging from his 2025 financial disclosure report released Tuesday. The Trump clan is cashing in on the Presidency in big and sketchy ways.

The 927-page report shows Mr. Trump made some $1.4 billion last year from crypto alone. Yowzers. This includes $635 million in royalties from the memecoin that Mr. Trump launched days before his inauguration. Trump Organization business affiliates make money from what are akin to transaction fees when the memecoin is traded.

Another $593 million came from token and equity sales by World Liberty Financial, whose co-founders include the President, his sons and special envoy Steve Witkoff. Mr. Witkoff’s son, Zach, is its CEO. A business entity affiliated with Mr. Trump and his family members owns a major chunk of World Liberty."

Trump Wants His Name Trademarked For Airports—Raising Questions About Profiteering; Forbes, February 18, 2026

Suzanne Rowan Kelleher , Forbes; Trump Wants His Name Trademarked For Airports—Raising Questions About Profiteering

"President Trump’s private company has filed for trademarks for airports using his name—setting up the possibility he could profit from what has historically been an honor in name only—just as plans take flight for an airport near his Florida home to be renamed after him."

Trump family rakes in profits as President Trump fires ethics watchdog; WBUR, February 25, 2025

 WBUR; Trump family rakes in profits as President Trump fires ethics watchdog

"The Trump family has made nearly $80 million since the election, and that's not counting the crypto assets they've been pushing. The Trump Organization, now overseen by the president's son Eric Trump, has not barred itself from pursuing deals with foreign companies, as it did during Trump’s first term. President Trump also fired the head of the Office of Government Ethics.

Wall Street Journal reporter Rebecca Ballhaus joins us to discuss the Trump family's growing fortunes.

This segment aired on February 25, 2025."

The Coat of Arms Said ‘Integrity.’ Now It Says ‘Trump.’; New York Times, May 28, 2017

Danny Hakim, New York Times; 

The Coat of Arms Said ‘Integrity.’ Now It Says ‘Trump.’

“In the United States, the Trump Organization took Mr. Davies’s coat of arms for its own, making one small adjustment — replacing the word “Integritas,” Latin for integrity, with “Trump.”

Joseph D. Tydings, a Democrat and former United States senator from Maryland who is the grandson of Mr. Davies, learned that Mr. Trump was using the emblem, at least at Mar-a-Lago, when he visited the property. Mr. Trump had never asked permission...

The organization has trademarked the Davies coat of arms in the United States, which has far less attachment to such symbols. It is used on the company’s website and is a prominent branding detail of Mr. Trump’s many American golf courses and resorts — emblazoned on golf balls, shirts and bottles of body lotion.

When the Trump Organization created a Civil War memorial at the golf course near Washington commemorating a battle and a “river of blood” that never occurred, a plaque marking the fictitious event was embossed with the coat of arms."

From Trump the Nationalist, a Trail of Global Trademarks; New York Times, February 21, 2017

Danny Hakim and Sui-Lee Wee, New York Times; 

From Trump the Nationalist, a Trail of Global Trademarks

"The trademarks are the natural outgrowth of a global-spanning strategy. Like any businessman, Mr. Trump has long sought to protect his brand and products legally with trademarks, whether by registering a board game he once tried to sell, slogans like “Make America Great Again” or simply the name “Trump.”

But the trail of trademarks offers further clues to his international business ties, which leave the president vulnerable to potential conflicts of interest, or at least perception challenges. The Chinese government’s trademark announcement last week came just days after Mr. Trump retreated from challenging China’s policy on Taiwan in a call with China’s president, Xi Jinping.

The Times review of nine databases identified nearly 400 foreign trademarks registered to Trump companies since 2000 in 28 countries, among them New Zealand, Egypt and Russia, as well as the European Union. There are most likely many more trademarks, because there is no central repository of all trademarks from every country. The Trump Organization has been filing trademarks for decades, and has said that it has taken out trademarks in more than 80 countries."