Trump’s Treasury Officials Pushed to Put His Face on a New $250 Bill, Even Though Federal Law Says Living People Can’t Appear on US Currency
· Thought Catalog
Updated 19 hours ago, May 28, 2026
According to a Washington Post report, two Treasury political appointees, US Treasurer Brandon Beach and senior adviser Mike Brown, repeatedly pressured staff at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to prepare prototypes for a $250 banknote featuring Donald Trump’s portrait.
The mock-up reportedly showed Trump’s face in the center, with his signature and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s signature on the note. An artist involved in the design told the Post that Trump personally endorsed changes to it, including American flag colors and a 250th-anniversary logo.
Bureau staff raised two legal problems. Federal law allows only deceased people to appear on US currency, and a $250 denomination isn’t authorized without an act of Congress. Former bureau director Larry R. Felix told the Post a $250 note is “not statutorily authorized.”
Patricia “Patty” Solimene, the bureau director, told Beach and Brown the agency couldn’t proceed and that the process would take far longer than they expected. She was reassigned on April 27, 2026. Her farewell email said the move was “not my choice” and signed off with “the buck stopped here.”
Rep. Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, introduced legislation in February 2025 to authorize the $250 Trump bill. It was referred to committee and hasn’t received a hearing.
Separately, the bureau has agreed to print $100 bills carrying Trump’s signature at its Washington facility. No law prohibits it, but it would be the first time a sitting president’s signature appeared on US currency.
The signature rollout is part of a wider set of currency moves under Trump. During his first term, his administration delayed the planned $20 redesign that would have replaced Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman, with Trump calling the change “pure political correctness.”
In his current term, the $100 signature (which drops the US Treasurer’s name for the first time since 1861) lands alongside a 24-karat gold commemorative coin bearing Trump’s portrait for the 250th anniversary, approved by Treasury and a Trump-appointed Commission of Fine Arts panel. Proposals have surfaced for a circulating $1 coin with his likeness, and Treasury has halted new penny production for circulation to cut costs.
The administration has also moved on broader currency and digital-asset policy, including efforts to counter foreign currency manipulation and the creation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve built from seized cryptocurrency.
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