The U.S. Treasury Department has unveiled a new $100 bill featuring President Donald Trump’s signature and a dollar coin featuring his portrait.
Trump’s signature will be included on all denominations of paper currency alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States, making him the first president to put his name on cash.
“As Treasury secretary, I only have two mandates — the currency has to say ‘In God we trust’ somewhere on it, and we cannot have an image of a living person,” Bessent explained to Fox News host Jesse Watters while taking him on a tour of the department this week:
“But we have the president’s signature,” the secretary continued. “Which, again, I think is appropriate for the 250th.”
Bessent used “currency” in the “paper money” sense of the word. The department can, however, include living people’s images on special coins.
“The president’s also going to have a coin coming out with his image on it,” Bessent said. The Fox News cameras showed a peek of the commemorative coin.
White House photographer Daniel Torok shared a side-by-side image of the Trump dollar coin next to the president’s official portrait that he took in June of last year:
While the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005 requires a president to have died at least two years before being placed on a circulating coin, the new Trump coin falls under the category of a commemorative, non-circulating coin.
For the country’s 150th birthday in 1926, a half-dollar coin was released with President Calvin Coolidge’s face, marking the first time a president’s portrait appeared on a coin during his lifetime.
Bessent confirmed that it does not cost any additional taxpayer dollars to include Trump’s signature on new prints. He also explained that the more cash people hold, the better for the treasury’s budget.
“I think people are going to want to hold the president’s signature,” the secretary remarked.
The new bills will be released to the public this coming fall, Bessent said. Footage provided to Breitbart News from the Treasury Department shows a closer look at their production.
(screengrab, Treasury Department)
The department originally announced the new bills in March, with Bessent stating that there is “no more powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J. Trump than U.S. dollar bills bearing his name.”
U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach concurred, writing in a statement that Trump’s “mark on history as the architect of America’s Golden Age economic revival is undeniable.”
“Printing his signature on the American currency is not only appropriate, but also well deserved,” Beach added.
Bessent also confirmed back in May that his department has prepared a prototype $250 bill with Trump’s face on it, though an act of Congress would be needed to actually make such a bill a reality.
Such a bill was introduced last year by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), but it failed to receive a hearing after being referred to the House Financial Services Committee.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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