Two voters who supported President Donald Trump in 2024 are criticizing the president after new financial disclosures showed he earned billions of dollars while he was back in office.
The voters spoke with MS Now’s Laura Barrón-López at the Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C., where they were asked about Trump’s reported 2025 income. According to financial disclosure documents released by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, Trump reported more than $2.2 billion in income last year, including more than $1.4 billion from his family’s cryptocurrency ventures.
Barrón-López asked whether it was “appropriate” for the president to make that much money while serving in the White House.
“I actually don’t, no. I don’t think that’s appropriate,” one man, whose name was not given, replied. “If you’re in office, take your salary. Your investments are in the hands of third parties that you don’t have influence over.”
A woman standing next to him also questioned Trump’s outside earnings. “I think you should just concentrate on being the president. I think he has enough money already.” After the clip aired, Deadline: White House host Nicolle Wallace repeated the woman’s comment that Trump “has enough money already.”
“I do too, but those folks are people who voted for Donald Trump 18 months ago,” Wallace said. The criticism comes after a 927-page filing by the Office of Government Ethics detailing Trump’s income from businesses, investments, and digital assets. His cryptocurrency-related earnings have drawn particular attention, with digital assets becoming a major source of income for the Trump family.
Trump reported more than $500 million from World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture he co-founded with his sons, along with hundreds of millions more connected to his $TRUMP meme coin. The filings also showed income from real estate, licensing and other ventures.
The White House rejected concerns about conflicts of interest and defended the president’s business arrangements. “As President Trump said, he has a lot of assets because he was a massively successful businessman prior to becoming president, which was why he was elected to office in the first place,” a White House spokesperson told the Daily Beast.
“All of the president’s assets are in held in fully discretionary accounts managed by independent third-party financial institutions. There are no conflicts of interest.” Trump also defended his income while speaking to reporters, showing off the new Air Force One plane gifted to him by the Qatari royal family.
“You know why I’m profiting? Because the stock market’s going up. Everybody’s profiting,” Trump said. “How’s your 401(k) doing? It’s up about 85 percent. Thank you, President Trump. So we’re all profiting,” he added. “I’m profiting because I have a lot of money and a lot of cash, and I give it to institutions [to invest on my behalf]. I don’t know if they know what they’re doing or not, but they buy a vast array of things.”