President Donald Trump has dismissed growing scrutiny over his family’s financial activities. The ex-businessman claimed his children are burdened by “inside information” simply because he occupies the Oval Office.
Donald Trump’s financial disclosure reveals more than 21,000 investment trades
The remarks came as the financial disclosure revealed the scale of Donald Trump’s post-election wealth surge. Speaking to CNBC’s Joe Kernen on Thursday, the president gave his defence of his family’s business dealings, arguing that almost any investment his children make is now tainted by his political power.
“I feel badly in a way for my kids … Anything they do, because the presidency is so powerful, so big … if they buy a cupcake company, well, the energy to make the cupcakes, is you know, sort of like, ‘How’s my energy policy?’ So, therefore you have a conflict,” Trump said. He then applied the same logic to vehicle purchases. “Almost anything they do, if they want to buy a truck … if they buy an energy efficient truck, they have inside information.”
In 2025, Trump reported $2.2 billion in income in his financial disclosure, more than he earned across all four years of his first term combined. The figure also triples the $622 million he reported in 2024, before returning to the White House.
A detailed breakdown showed that digital assets, not traditional equities, drove the windfall, as opposed to what Trump claimed was due to rising stock markets. Crypto ventures generated the bulk of the income. The disclosures attribute $1.4 billion to digital asset holdings.
The filings reportedly detail more than 21,000 individual trades. When CNBC asked about accountability, Donald Trump pointed to one of his children. “My son Eric handles it,” he said. “I don’t talk to him about things such as this. I think I’d be allowed to, I’m not sure even what the status is, but I don’t.”
