Trump financial disclosure reveals post-presidency earnings

WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES — Donald Trump filed his first post-presidency financial disclosure on Friday, indicating ballpark income earned off everything from his digital trading card series to the company behind his Truth Social media network.

The 101-page report, which Trump was required to file as a candidate running for a new presidential term in 2024, pulls the curtain back partially on the real estate mogul’s business dealings — a topic on which he is notoriously tight-lipped.

The former president made somewhere between US$100,000 to $1 million on his NFT digital trading cards, which cost $99 and showed the former president in various guises including as a cowboy, astronaut and fighter pilot.

He also earned more than US$5 million from speaking engagements, which are managed by the company CIC Ventures, according to the filing.

Trump meanwhile reported earning no more than US$200 from the Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of his social media platform Truth Social.

The ex-president holds 90 per cent ownership in the company that he reported as being worth between US$5 million and US$25 million in the filing.

The document also gives insight into some of Trump’s international dealings, such as a reportedly US$4 billion golf and real estate development project in Oman, in partnership with a Saudi real estate firm.

Trump reported making more than US$5 million from royalties under an item listed as “DT Marks Oman.”

Trump has gone to great lengths to shield his financial information from the public: Unlike presidents since the 1970s, he refused to release his tax returns while in office and took to the courts to block the congressional request.

When US lawmakers finally released the 2015 to 2020 returns against his will in December, the documents showed that despite reporting millions in earnings, he often paid little in tax by claiming large business losses.

— AFP