As President Donald Trump’s wealth has soared since retaking office, a new financial disclosure shows his two premier Florida resorts have also delivered record-breaking surges in revenue – a potent illustration of how Trump’s personal business and presidential politics overlap.
Trump has visited the properties, Mar-a-Lago and Trump National Doral, more than two dozen times since the beginning of last year, hosting million-dollar-per-plate fundraising dinners, feting foreign dignitaries and welcoming GOP galas as industry leaders and political groups have scrambled to book their own events there as well.
Trump has also supercharged the money coming from Mar-a-Lago by raising the membership initiation fee to $1 million shortly before his reelection. The lavish resort is conducive to impromptu conversations with the president, who often dines on the patio at night, according to people familiar with the club.
Some ethics experts described the confluence of politics and profit as a blatant opportunity for special interests to get a direct line to Trump.
“People are going to Mar-a-Lago because they want proximity to the president,” said Robert Weissman, the co-president of Public Citizen, a consumer rights advocacy group. “A whisper in the president’s ear is worth an awful lot – more than what they’re paying to get in the door.”
Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement that “neither the President nor his family has ever engaged — or will ever engage — in conflicts of interest,” and added that “all actions by President Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people.” Trump pledged before retaking office not to involve himself in managing his namesake company, and placed his assets in a trust managed by his children, as they were during his first term.
Trump’s personal wealth has ballooned in office unlike any other president, the annual disclosure released Tuesday by the Office of Government Ethics showed. He significantly grew the income he received from his Florida properties, taking in nearly $77.5 million from Mar-a-Lago – more than 50% over what it earned him the previous year, and triple what he earned from the resort in 2020.
The disclosure also shows that the resorts are being eclipsed in the president’s portfolio by more than $1.4 billion in income from his lucrative new cryptocurrency ventures, including the $TRUMP memecoin and World Liberty Financial, a company co-founded by Trump’s sons.
In total, Trump reported almost three times as much in crypto income last year as he made from his empire of golf clubs, hotels and resorts.
