In a curious twist of presidential ambition, officials from Donald Trump’s administration have persistently urged the nation’s currency producers to craft a $250 bill featuring the former President’s likeness. This request goes against a longstanding 159-year-old regulation that prohibits living individuals from being depicted on U.S. currency.
Despite this legal barrier, influential figures within the Treasury Department, including U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach and his senior adviser, Mike Brown, have repeatedly pressed the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to develop prototypes for this unusual currency. The Washington Post has been informed by several current and former employees about these internal pressures and discussions.
Concerns have been raised within the workforce, given that federal law has explicitly forbidden the portrayal of living persons on physical money since 1866. Nevertheless, the push for such a bill has been persistent.
In recent months, notably in August and September, Beach presented mock-ups to bureau staff featuring Trump’s image prominently in the center. The design also included Trump’s signature on one side and the autograph of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the opposite side, suggesting a concerted effort to make this vision a reality.
British artist Iain Alexander, who was tasked with creating the mock-up, noted that the concept had the President’s backing. “He likes to call me his favorite British artist,” Alexander shared with the Post, highlighting the personalized nature of this endeavor.
‘He likes to call me his favorite British artist,’ Alexander told the Post.
A bill allowing Trump’s portrait on bank notes to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary was introduced in Congress last year, but it has stalled.
Bureau director Patricia ‘Patty’ Solimene was abruptly reassigned on April 27 after warning Beach and Brown about the legal complications.
A mock-up design of a proposed $250 bill featuring the president’s face and signature that administration officials provided to Bureau of Engraving and Printing staff in August
Scott Bessent on Thursday pushed back against the Post’s reporting as he gave a press briefing at the White House, holding aloft a copy of the news article featuring the bill
‘She had told them we’re not authorized to do this. We can’t progress any further, and all the stakeholders have not even met to discuss the next steps,’ an employee told the Post.
‘Currency often takes six to eight years to produce a new bill, particularly one of such high value.’
In an email to colleagues, Solimene wrote that it was with a ‘heavy heart’ that she was leaving and that it was ‘not my choice.’
She added that she had ‘never sacrificed the values or character of myself or the organization and always prioritized the US Currency Program and the value each employee brings to the mission.’
‘The buck stopped here,’ she pointedly concluded the email obtained by the Post.
Solimene, a 24-year Army veteran, had been the bureau’s first female director.
Bessent on Thursday pushed back against the Post’s reporting as he gave a press briefing at the White House, filling in for Karoline Leavitt who is on maternity leave.
‘Terribly written, terribly edited,’ he said, holding the news article aloft.
Bessent defended his staff, saying they had created the note but were ‘following the law’ and were ‘prepared for everything if [the bill] gets passed.’
‘You can’t draw something up the day before,’ Bessent said.
Designing and printing a new note requires coordination with the Federal Reserve, Secret Service and private companies even with congressional authorization, said Larry Felix, a former bureau director.
It took more than a decade to produce a $100 note with anti-counterfeiting security features, he told the Post.
‘These guys think you can just print something overnight and it’s going to work in an ATM. It’s just crazy,’ a bureau employee told the Post. ‘It takes years and years and years to produce these notes so they are reliable for the public.’
The Trump administration effort coincides with other patriotic announcements to commemorate America’s founding, including a 250ft triumphal arch, dubbed the Arc de Trump, planned for Arlington National Cemetery.
