Trump administration considers minting a $1 Trump coin
U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach said Friday that the Treasury is considering minting new one-dollar coins for the nation's 250th anniversary featuring an image of President Donald Trump.
Beach reposted an X post that featured a draft design of the coin that featured Trump's face on one side and on the other a portrait depicting Trump pumping his fist in the air after his 2024 near assassination.
The words "Fight, Fight, Fight," which Trump shouted before the Secret Service got him off the stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, are engraved around the top of the reverse side of the proposed coin.
A Treasury spokesperson told ABC News that more will be shared soon.
"Despite the radical left’s forced shutdown of our government, the facts are clear: Under the historic leadership of President Donald J. Trump, our nation is entering its 250th anniversary stronger, more prosperous, and better than ever before," the spokesperson said. "While a final $1 dollar coin design has not yet been selected to commemorate the United States’ semiquincentennial, this first draft reflects well the enduring spirit of our country and democracy, even in the face of immense obstacles. We look forward to sharing more soon."
The Treasury might be able to mint the coin due to a law signed by Trump at the end of his first term.
The Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020 permits the Department to mint $1 dollar coins "with designs emblematic of the U.S. semiquincentennial" for one year starting in January of 2026, under the supervision of the Treasury secretary.
There are several provisions that could prevent Trump from appearing on currency, though it’s not clear if it would apply in the case of the commemorative $1 coin.
"There’s the Thayer Amendment, passed in 1866 that prohibits living persons from appearing on government securities. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing also cites a statute, 'By law, only the portrait of a deceased individual may appear on U.S. currency and securities (31 USC 5114(b)).' This applies to any living person, so by extension any sitting president," Garrett Wilson, director of policy analysis at the Tax Foundation, said in an email.
"There’s also a separate provision prohibiting living former or current Presidents from appearing on the $1 coin, though I’m not sure if this directly applies here or not," he added.
Wilson noted that Congress could provide an exception as it did in 1926, when then-President Calvin Coolidge was featured on a specially issued half-dollar coin for the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
It was the first time a sitting president was featured on a coin during his lifetime, according to the U.S. Mint.
