Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent has confirmed rumors that his department has prepared prototypes of a $250 bill featuring the president’s face, though an act of Congress would be needed to actually make such a bill a reality.
No portrait of a living person has been included on a U.S. bill or coin since 1866 — when then-Superintendent of the National Currency Bureau Spencer M. Clark printed his own face on a five-cent note, prompting Congress to pass an amendment ensuring that currency could only feature those who are deceased.
Over 150 years later, and on the eve of the nation’s 250th birthday, U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach and his senior adviser, Mike Brown, have reportedly “repeatedly urged staff at the agency’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing to prepare prototypes” of President Donald Trump’s face on a $250 bill.
The Washington Post published Thursday that Beach began providing bureau staff with mock-up designs for the note last August, “including one that shows President Donald Trump’s face in the center of the $250 bill between the signatures of the president and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.”
Treasury employees who spoke to the outlet on the condition of anonymity voiced concern about printing a Trump bill being against the law, which some congressional Republicans have already started working to change.
In February 2025, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) introduced a bill ordering the Treasury secretary “to print $250 Federal reserve notes featuring a portrait of Donald Trump.”
The bill failed to receive a hearing after being referred to the House Financial Services Committee, the Washington Post noted. In a statement to the outlet, a spokesperson for the congressman said that Beach, Bessent, and Trump have all voiced their support for the proposed legislation to Wilson.
In January of this year, Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) posted a photo of Beach and himself holding a poster-sized prototype featuring Trump’s face and a red-white-and blue America 250 design:
Speaking to Fox News’s Peter Doocy in the White House press briefing room on Thursday, Bessent acknowledged that congressional approval is still needed to create a Trump bill, but confirmed that Treasury has prepared prototypes “in advance” of the law being potentially changed:
Telling reporters that the two rules for bill artwork are that the person featured must be deceased and that the bills must include the phrase “In God We Trust,” Bessent said “it’s all in the hands” of Capitol Hill to decide if the first requirement will be dropped.
“We have prepared in advance, if the legislation is passed, but we will stick to the law,” the secretary added.
Iain Alexander, a British painter who described himself as a “royalty portrait artist,” is the artist behind the mock-up bill and told the Post that he has communicated with the president on executing changes to the design.
According to Alexander, Trump “absolutely loved” his idea of giving the back of the bill a “women’s liberation” theme featuring Betsy Ross, the seamstress credited with creating the first U.S. flag.
“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,” a statement from the Treasury Department said, before noting that Beach has “never asked staff to print the bill before congressional passage.”
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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