United States President Donald Trump has made financial investments worth more than $100m in company and municipal bonds since his return to the White House, financial filings reveal.
The disclosures, released by the US Office of Government Ethics, detail nearly 700 financial purchases made by Trump from his January 21 inauguration to August 1.
The purchases include bonds issued by financial giants such as Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup, as well as corporate household names like Meta, UnitedHealth, T-Mobile, and The Home Depot.
Dozens of US states, including Texas, Florida, and New York, are represented in the purchases of municipal bonds, with Trump’s investments spanning hospitals, schools, airports, ports, and gas projects.
The documents do not provide the value of each transaction, only broad ranges, such as $100,001-$250,000 and $1,000,001-$5,000,000.
Trump did not report any sales during the period. Bonds are a type of fixed-income investment where an individual loans money to a government authority or company in exchange for a specified rate of interest.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but US media cited administration officials as saying that Trump and his family were not directly involved in the transactions.
Under legislation passed in 1978 in the wake of the Watergate scandal, US presidents are required to disclose a broad accounting of their finances, but they are not obligated to divest from assets that could potentially raise conflicts of interest.
Government ethics experts have raised concerns about the intersection between Trump’s governance and his personal fortune.
Richard Painter, who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer in the administration of former President George W Bush, noted that Trump’s bond holdings stand to rise in value if the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates as he has demanded.
“When interest rates go down, bond prices go up,” Painter told newsmen. “No wonder he’s leaning on the Fed for a rate cut!”, Painter noted.
Trump’s decision to invest in individual bonds and stocks deviates from the tradition set by previous presidents, who either established blind trusts or committed to investing in diversified mutual funds upon taking office.
Instead, Trump passed control of his business empire to a trust managed by his children. This move has sparked questions about transparency and possible conflicts of interest while he’s in office.
While Trump’s exact net wealth is unclear, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimated the US president to be worth $6.4 billion last month.
The financial disclosures provide a window into the management of Trump’s wealth while in office, raising questions about potential conflicts between his governance and personal interests.