Trump officials push $250 bill featuring Trump despite legal hurdles: Report

• Trump administration officials are pushing for a commemorative $250 bill featuring President Donald Trump’s image for America’s 250th anniversary, despite legal restrictions on depicting living people on US currency.

Officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration are pushing for the creation of a commemorative $250 bill featuring Trump’s image to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

According to the newspaper, officials at the Treasury Department have discussed producing the bill despite longstanding federal restrictions barring living people from appearing on US currency.

The report said a mock-up obtained by the Post features Trump’s portrait in the center of the proposed note alongside the words “250 AMERICA.”

Republican Representative Andy Barr of Kentucky shared a similar design in January while posing with a large mock-up of the bill and US Treasurer Brandon Beach, one of Trump’s appointees. The Post reported that Beach had “repeatedly urged staff” at the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing to advance work on the proposal.

British artist Iain Alexander, who designed the mock-up shared by Barr, told the newspaper that Trump “absolutely loved it.”

Under US law, only deceased individuals are permitted to appear on American currency. The last living person to appear on US money was in 1866 before the practice was prohibited.

In a statement to the Washington Post, a Treasury spokesperson said the Bureau of Engraving and Printing “is conducting appropriate planning and due diligence” regarding the proposed note.

“Should this legislative mandate be signed into law, the BEP is moving proactively to produce a $250 commemorative note which will appropriately recognize the 250th Anniversary of our great nation,” the spokesperson said.

Former Bureau of Engraving and Printing director Larry Felix told the newspaper that a $250 bill is “not statutorily authorized” without congressional approval and that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would need legal authority to proceed.

The Treasury spokesperson said Beach had “never asked staff to print the bill before congressional passage.”

Current and former bureau employees told the Post that producing a new high-denomination banknote could take between six and eight years because of technical, security and banking system requirements.

“These guys think you can just print something overnight and it’s going to work in an ATM. It’s just crazy,” one employee told the newspaper. “It takes years and years and years to produce these notes so they are reliable for the public.”

The report also said Bureau Director Patricia “Patty” Solimene was reassigned in late April after she and other staff members told senior Treasury officials that the project could not move forward without legal authorization and extensive coordination.

In a farewell message cited by the Post, Solimene wrote that she “never sacrificed the values or character of myself or the organization” and that “the buck stopped here.”

Republican Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina introduced legislation in February 2025 seeking to place Trump on a $250 bill, though the measure has not advanced in Congress, according to the report.