President Donald Trump lashed out at a reporter from Australia who asked him whether it was “appropriate” that the president is enriching himself while in office.
Speaking to reporters at the White House before departing for his state visit to the U.K., Trump was asked by Australian Broadcasting Corporation journalist John Lyons whether a president in office “should be engaged in so much business activity” amid reports that Trump and his family have made billions since his return to power.
“Well, I’m really not. My kids are running the business. I’m here,” Trump replied before asking Lyons where he is from. “In my opinion, you are hurting Australia very much right now, and they want to get along with me.”
“You know your leader is coming over to see me very soon. I’m going to tell them about you. You set a very bad tone,” the president added in reference to Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, who is hoping to arrange an in-person meeting with Trump, but no date has been confirmed.
Trump then told Lyons to be “quiet” as he president tried to move on and take another question from the pool.
Before the testy exchange, the reporter had directly asked how much wealthier Trump is compared to when he returned to the White House.
“Well, I don’t know the deals I’ve made for the most part, other than what my kids are doing, they’re running my business,” Trump said. “But most of the deals that I’ve made were made before.”
“I’ve built buildings, like I’m building a building here,” Trump added, before pointing toward an area where he said he is planning to build a ballroom at the White House for an estimated $200 million.
In its annual Rich List update, Forbes estimated that Trump’s net worth has increased by $3 billion in the last year, putting him at his highest-ever valuation of $7.3 billion.
The president’s influx of wealth has been attributed to Trump and his family embracing cryptocurrencies and memecoins, including the World Liberty Financial token, which Forbes estimates has generated around $1.4 billion so far in sales on the open market. The Trump family reportedly receives about 75 percent of that revenue, which would amount to over $1 billion.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that the Trump family’s wealth ballooned by as much as $5 billion after trading opened on World Liberty Financial. The Journal added that the cryptocurrency, not the family’s real estate portfolio that includes hotels and golf resorts around the world, is now the most valuable asset for the Trumps.
In August, The New Yorker published a lengthy analysis estimating that Trump and his family will have enriched themselves by more than $3.4 billion by the end of his second term, including deals and investments that may never have materialized had he not returned to the White House.
This includes at least $320 million from his $TRUMP memecoin, which the president encouraged investors to buy as much as possible to be in with a chance to be invited to an exclusive gala dinner at his members’ clubs in D.C. in May.
After his clash with Lyons, Trump got into another heated exchange with a reporter, warning that his administration’s crackdown on “hate speech” in the wake of the killing of Charlie Kirk could target journalists.
A reporter from ABC News asked the president what he would say to critics of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s suggestion that treating hate speech as a crime amounts to an attack on free speech.
“They’ll probably go after people like you, because you treat me so unfairly,” Trump replied. “You have a lot of hate in your heart, maybe they’ll come after ABC.”
