New documents show that United States President Donald Trump has bought at least US$103 million in corporate and municipal funds since taking office in January.
The new filings from the Office of Government Ethics show that Trump started his spending on day one after being sworn in as President on 20 January. It includes debt sold by companies, local governments, and entities that could be directly affected by his sweeping agenda.
All up, Trump made around 690 purchases from 21 January to 1 August.
Trump’s active trading is unprecedented for a U.S. President and puts him in a position to benefit or lose out on any of the bonds he purchased.
"Ultimately, the president is not involved in these transactions," a senior administration official told NBC News.
"They’re managed completely independently of him."
While the filings don’t provide exact amounts, they do provide dollar ranges for each transaction and do not show any sales by Trump.
Some purchases include bonds from megabanks, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Citigroup worth at least US$100,000. These purchases come as he considers the replacement of the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, whom he has been openly critical of.
He also purchased at least US$500,000 in bonds a piece from chipmaker Qualcomm, mobile provider T-Mobile USA, Home Depot and UnitedHealth Group.
According to the filings, the president also bought at least US$250,001 of Meta’s bonds. This comes after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg attended Trump’s inauguration and donated US$1 million to the event.
This follows a release of Trump’s financial disclosures for the 2024 calendar year to June, which showed that he earned more than US$600 million in income.
According to the Forbes Billionaires list, Trump’s net worth has also jumped US$3.2 billion last year to US$5.5 billion.
The money came from crypto, golf clubs, licensing and other ventures.
The U.S. President has been open to accusations of conflicts of interest as his income came from various sources despite having put his companies into a trust.
According to Reuters calculations, Trump has assets worth at least US$1.6 billion.
His three golf club resorts in Florida, Jupiter Doral and West Palm Beach and his private members’ club at Mar-a-Lago generated at least US$217.7 million in income.
