Hillary Clinton has ridiculed a Trump administration proposal to feature President Donald Trump's likeness on a new $250 bill, claiming it will quickly lose value due to the president's policies. The Washington Post reported Thursday that Treasury Department officials have requested prototype designs for the bill, despite internal pushback, potentially paving the way for a living person to appear on U.S. currency for the first time in over a century.
Clinton, who lost the 2016 election to Trump and has remained an outspoken critic, took to social media to voice her opposition. “By the end of Trump’s term, it’ll be just enough to buy one gallon of gas and a carton of eggs,” she wrote on X, alluding to rapid price increases. U.S. inflation increased at its fastest clip in three years in April, largely driven by rising energy prices due to the ongoing Iran war, the Commerce Department announced.
Other Democrats adopted a similar line of attack. California Rep. John Garamendi wrote on X: “Soon we'll all be using Trump notes to pay for one gallon of gas.” California Rep. Doris Matsui added: “It's a disgraceful waste of taxpayer dollars and these acts are exactly the kind of out-of-touch vanity politics I will always fight against.”
The Post, citing current and former officials, reported that U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach and his adviser Mike Brown have repeatedly pressed employees at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to mock up designs for a $250 bill emblazoned with Trump’s face. In August and September last year, Beach provided bureau staff with prototype designs, including one with a portrait of Trump framed by the signatures of the president and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Iain Alexander, a British painter, told the outlet he created the prototype and discussed it with Trump, who endorsed additions such as the colours of the American flag.
The proposal has drawn sharp resistance within the Bureau, including from its director Patricia Solimene, who said she was “abruptly reassigned” in April. Critics point to longstanding legal barriers: multiple laws prohibit living individuals from appearing on U.S. currency, a standard that has held for more than 150 years. In February, Rep. Joe Wilson introduced legislation to circumvent those restrictions.
Asked about the report at a press conference, Bessent confirmed preliminary planning is underway but contingent on congressional action. “I have two mandates for U.S. currency: no living person can be on U.S. currency, and the currency must say, ‘In God we trust’,” he said. “At Treasury, we prepare things in advance. So we have prepared in advance that if the legislation is passed, but we will stick to the law.” Bessent dismissed the Post’s article as “terribly written” and “terribly edited,” but declined to answer directly whether minting new currency bearing Trump’s image is appropriate amid cost-of-living struggles.
