Trump Defends His $1.4 Billion Crypto Profits — Claims He Doesn’t Know the Details While Maintaining ‘I Could Know’

President Donald Trump defended the $1.4 billion he earned from cryptocurrency ventures in 2025 during a Thursday interview with CNBC, insisting that while he doesn’t know the specifics of his finances, “I could know.”

The president’s 2025 financial disclosure report, released this week, revealed he brought in more than $1 billion from his family’s cryptocurrency ventures. The filing reported roughly $500 million in income from World Liberty Financial, the crypto company founded with his sons Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Barron Trump, along with approximately $635 million from sales of the $TRUMP meme coin through CIC Digital LLC. The disclosure also detailed hundreds of millions of dollars in income from Trump’s real estate holdings and millions more from licensing deals and other business ventures.

During Thursday’s interview, CNBC’s Joe Kernen questioned Trump over the matter, which The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board called “an unseemly display of using the Presidency for family profit” on Wednesday.

Calling the reported gains “an outsized number,” Kernen asked if the president knew of his “crypto ventures.”

“No,” Trump responded. “By the way, I could know about it. I mean, there’s nothing illegal. There’s nothing wrong with it. I could know.”

Kernan then cited Title 18, Section 208 of the U.S. Code, which bars executive branch officials from taking part in government matters that directly affect their own financial interests or those of certain close associates and family members.

“You know, I didn’t even know that,” Trump chuckled. “I’m glad you told me. How did you know that?”

He continued, “I feel badly, in a way, for my kids because every time that my kids do, if they invest in a stock, or if they go and do a building — anything they do — because the presidency is so powerful, so big, everything, if they buy a cupcake company, well, the enegry to make the cupcakes is, you know, sort of like how’s my energy policy? So, therefore, you have a conflict.”

Watch the full clip above via CNBC.

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