Trump’s Treasury Dept. Is Adding His Signature to All U.S. Currency — First Time Using a Sitting President’s Name

 
Donald Trump with executive order in Oval Office

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

President Donald Trump’s signature will soon appear on all American currency, the first time for any sitting U.S. president, according to a report by Vanity Fair’s Aidan McLaughlin and confirmed by Treasury officials.

Trump’s Treasury Department “is taking another unprecedented step toward brand ubiquity” with this move, coming after the president’s remodeling of the White House, affixing his name to the Kennedy Center, and adorning federal buildings with giant banners of his face, reported McLaughlin, who previously served as Mediaite’s editor in chief.

The president’s signature “will be added to all denominations of US bills,” McLaughlin wrote, and the change is coming soon, with new printing plates already in development and the newly Trumpified money expected to “go into circulation in the coming months.”

The change is being done as part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of America’s independence, but “[t]he measure is not temporary: Trump’s name will appear on bills until a future administration decides to take it off,” McLaughlin added, and it’s a break in longstanding U.S. tradition to having currency just have the signatures of the Secretary of the Treasury and U.S. Treasurer, roles currently held by Scott Bessent and Brandon Beach, respectively.

Beach, whose signature will be deleted in the new design and replaced with Trump’s, issued a statement: “As the 250th anniversary of our great nation approaches, American currency will continue to stand as a symbol of prosperity, strength, and the unshakable spirit of the American people under President Trump’s leadership. The president’s mark on history as the architect of America’s golden age economic revival is undeniable. Printing his signature on the American currency is not only appropriate, but also well deserved.”

Reuters’ David Lawder confirmed Vanity Fair’s reporting, adding that the Treasury plans to start with Trump’s signature on $100 bills first, with an initial printing in June, followed by the other denominations in the months that follow.

Lawder also reported that the “overall designs of bills will not change, except for Trump’s signature replacing the Treasurer’s,” citing Treasury officials, and noted that a previous plan to mint a $1 Trump coin was thwarted by federal laws that only allow deceased individuals to be portrayed on legal tender U.S. coins.

This is not the first impact Trump has had on America’s money. Last year, he signed an executive order ordering the U.S. Mint to cease minting pennies, citing the cost that surpassed the coin’s stated monetary value. Earlier this month, the Commission on Fine Arts, a federal advisory panel whose members were all appointed by Trump, voted to put his image on a commemorative gold coin for the 250th anniversary, an honor that has rarely been done for a living president, not to mention a current one.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!

Tags:

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law&Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe. Follow Sarah on Threads, Twitter, and Bluesky.