A government of multimillionaires: Trump appointed 57 officials worth as much as $100 million
The US president has surrounded himself with investment bankers and business executives who have amassed great wealth
Donald Trump measures success by the number of zeros in a bank account. The U.S. president has put some of the richest people in the world in charge of running the country. He has appointed 57 cabinet members and senior officials with individual net worths over $100 million to his administration, according to a study published Monday by the organization Public Citizen. Many of them were donors to his 2024 campaign that returned him to the White House.
The nearly 60 ultrawealthy individuals now helping govern the United States are far from insignificant in number. The report finds that the former New York real estate developer has appointed four times as many millionaires as the previous three presidents, Joe Biden, Barack Obama and George W. Bush, combined.
Trump’s preference for surrounding himself with millionaires has fueled concerns about inequality and about whose interests his administration ultimately serves in a country where median earnings stand at $64,505, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Previous presidents prioritized talent over wealth. Republican George W. Bush had only five members of his administration with more than $100 million in assets, as did Democrat Joe Biden. Barack Obama named only three millionaires during his time as leader of the world’s leading power.
The Public Citizen report reveals that of the 57 ultrawealthy people named by Trump, 17 are U.S. ambassadors nominated after generous donations to his campaign; the other 40 serve as senior government officials.
Among the latter are Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick; Education Secretary Linda McMahon; and Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg, one of the founders of Cerberus, one of the world’s largest investment funds. The three of them have combined fortunes exceeding $1 billion.
Lutnick is one of the most controversial figures in the U.S. government. Through the Cantor Fitzgerald firm, he holds cross-shareholdings in hundreds of companies across financial services, real estate, cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, technology, satellites, energy, gaming and other sectors that could present conflicts of interest given his role as commerce secretary. Lutnick is listed as one of the people who visited the Caribbean island owned by billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. His public statements explaining his relationship with the convicted sex offender, who died in a federal jail while awaiting trial, were contradictory.
McMahon, meanwhile, controls an entertainment empire that includes World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the largest professional wrestling group in the world, and holds stakes in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the other major combat sports organization, through the TKO group.
As part of celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the United States’ declaration of independence from Britain on July 4, 1776, Trump hosted a UFC championship event on the White House grounds, drawing criticism from many Americans who bristled at the idea of the presidential residence, one of the symbols of U.S. democracy, being turned into a fighters’ locker room. During the event, Trump also took the opportunity to promote a cryptocurrency linked to his family’s business empire.
The Public Citizen analysis comes amid growing concern about the influence of wealthy donors and corporate interests within the Trump administration, as well as questions about whose interests are really being served by some government decisions.
Public Citizen compares Trump’s Cabinet to a billionaire boys’ club. Eight of his 23 Cabinet secretaries have net worths exceeding $100 million. Among the wealthiest are Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, both worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Vice President JD Vance, whose net worth is estimated at around $12 million according to Forbes, and especially Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with about $1 million, are among the “poorest” members of Trump’s Cabinet.
The ranks of wealthy appointees also include figures selected by Trump to lead NASA, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Social Security Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Federal Reserve, among other agencies.
“It is deeply concerning to see people with extraordinary wealth controlling the levers of power in our government,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen. “The Trump administration is putting an unprecedented number of multi-millionaires and billionaires in charge of institutions that are supposed to serve all Americans. When the people holding the reins of government are drawn overwhelmingly from the ranks of the ultra-rich, it leads to misplaced incentives and corruption, and begs the question whose interests they are truly serving.”
The report was published just weeks after it emerged that Trump had earned an estimated $2.2 billion from cryptocurrency-related ventures over the past year. According to Bloomberg estimates, Trump’s own fortune stands at roughly $6.8 billion.
A steady stream of reports linking Trump’s family businesses to decisions made by his administration has fueled questions about his government’s ethical principles. “I let my kids run it,” Trump said of the trust that holds his business assets in an interview with Punchbowl News several weeks ago.
Trump’s children and his son-in-law Jared Kushner accompany him on Air Force One on many of the diplomatic trips he makes as president in search of business opportunities.
“I don’t talk to them about government. I don’t talk to them about much, other than to say, ‘I love you, kids,’” he said, adding that crypto is “very important.” “We can’t let China have it or Japan have it,” he said. Despite these claims, Trump’s children’s business interests have flourished since he returned to the Oval Office.
The Public Citizen study does not include Elon Musk’s role in the U.S. government. The founder of Tesla and SpaceX is the world’s richest person, with an estimated fortune of nearly $1 trillion. During the first months of Trump’s return to the White House, he was placed in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with cutting public spending and overseeing the dismissal of thousands of federal employees. During that period, Trump even promoted Musk’s cars on the White House grounds.
“These individuals have sweeping financial conflicts and are more likely to govern based on their own personal monetary interests than the vital interests of the American public,” said Douglas Pasternak, a researcher at Public Citizen. “The breadth and depth of the economic divide we quantified in this report, identifying 57 ultra-millionaires in key positions in our government and leading at least 10 critical federal agencies, should be deeply troubling to anyone concerned about the welfare of our democracy.”
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