Trump’s July financial filing reveals $1B earnings plus wife Melania’s $1.2M speaking fees

07/21/2023 / By Belle Carter

Former President Donald Trump last week disclosed in a revised financial filing that he earned roughly $1 billion after his term ended.

The latest monetary report of the Republican presidential bet included earnings from foreign ventures and a Florida golf course. Trump also disclosed that his wife Melania earned $1.2 million from speaking fees. It also revealed that he paid off an additional loan held by Deutsche Bank, a mortgage on his Doral golf club valued at between $25 million and $50 million.

The business mogul and politician also specified in the recent filing that his earnings from speaking fees were more than previously known, including at least $2 million for speaking at events hosted by Hak Ja Han Moon and a group she co-founded with her husband, Sun Myung Moon, the late leader of the Unification Church, as well as $2.5 million to comment on a boxing match.

The revised filing, which was provided by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) after the agency noted the existence of the updated paperwork in an online database accessible to the public, was certified on July 6 by OGE Director Emory Rounds, whose term expired on July 12 and could no longer be reached for comment. The said report is required under guidelines from the OGE that say a presidential candidate is required to file within 30 days of becoming a candidate and on or before May 15 of each year of candidacy.

After receiving two extensions, Trump filed his initial report on April 14. The filing mainly covers part of 2021 and all of 2022, with at least one reference to 2023, for a payment of $100,000.

In two instances in the revised filing, Trump also disclosed earnings outside the range he had previously indicated. For example, in the report on the income from a golf resort in Ireland, Trump went from claiming earnings less than $201M to saying he received an amount in euros that today would be equal to $6.2 million. In another instance, he initially reported income between $1,001 and $2,500 from a carousel in New York’s Central Park but revised the amount to $2,873 in the July filing. As per Fox, it is not typical for a candidate to go beyond the ranges, and it is unclear why the former president exceeded the requirement.

Moreover, the new filing contained updates that offer further insight into Trump’s finances and his complex domestic and international business interests. In one of the most substantial revisions, Trump had reported in his April filing that he made more than $5 million in income from a golf course at his Doral resort, while the revised filing said he earned $159 million. While those statements don’t conflict, they do provide another example of why the new filing has a larger valuation, the news outlet pointed out.

Furthermore, he had earned more than $1 billion from hotel sales, golf revenue and licensing fees in the July disclosure, whereas in the April filing, which did not provide exact numbers on his income, more than 25 sources of income over $5 million were reported. Also, the tally indicated that some of this income had been previously known but not described in detail in his initial filing.

Trump declares overseas earnings, the Biden crime family does not

Also, according to the July disclosure, the social media platform founded by Trump, Truth Social, has earned just $1.2 million in advertising since its February 2022 launch. America’s “Big Tent” launched in February 2022, as a “free speech” alternative to popular social media platforms Twitter and Facebook, where the former president was banned after the Jan. 6 “attack” on the U.S. Capitol.

Now, Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind Truth Social, has been reported to merge with Digital World Acquisition Corp, as its earnings are significantly lower than other competing social media platforms that the former ex-president aimed to surpass, according to the report. This comes after previous reports on Trump’s tax returns and how he allegedly paid less in taxes than a household earning only $20,000 per year. The detailed disclosure of his post-presidency earnings is significant as it provides a clearer picture of his financial status.

“When we have exact numbers, you get a much better look of seeing what his actual net worth is, and where potential conflicts of interest exist,” said Jordan Libowitz, a spokesman for the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “We haven’t had a president making millions of dollars from overseas business before. These disclosures show exactly where money is pouring in, and that’s something Americans need to know.”

But observers point out that Trump has at least declared his earnings from overseas. President Joe Biden and his family, meanwhile, continue to deny their involvement in international business dealings despite mountains of evidence. (Related: New survey shows 62% of Americans believe charges against Trump are politically motivated.)