U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump during a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington on May 27, 2026. (Credit: Kent Nishimura/AFP)
The Trump administration is pushing for the creation of a $250 banknote featuring President Donald Trump’s likeness, which would mark the first time in more than 150 years that a living person has appeared on U.S. currency, according to The Washington Post.
The project is part of a broader series of moves aimed at putting Trump’s mark on American buildings and symbols, drawing accusations of cultivating a personality cult.
The newspaper interviewed current and former employees of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the agency responsible for producing U.S. currency. Speaking anonymously, they described repeated directives from senior Treasury Department officials, including Treasurer of the United States Brandon Beach and his chief adviser Mike Brown.
British painter Iain Alexander also told The Washington Post that Trump had approved several proposals, including adding the colors of the U.S. flag and a logo commemorating the upcoming 250th anniversary of the country’s founding.
The appearance of a living person on a U.S. banknote has been prohibited since 1866, when "a midlevel Treasury bureaucrat appeared on a five-cent note," the newspaper reported.
A bill that would allow Trump to move forward with the project was introduced in Congress in 2025 as part of the anniversary celebrations, which include several events planned for June and July. However, the legislation has stalled.
A Treasury spokesperson told the newspaper that the printing bureau was carrying out "the necessary preparations and verifications."
According to the report, Bureau of Engraving and Printing Director Patricia Solimene pushed back by raising legal concerns and arguing that such a project would take years to implement.
She was dismissed by the Treasury at the end of April. Explaining her departure to staff, she reportedly said: "Responsibility stops here."
In March, Solimene was also required to authorize Trump’s signature on future $100 bills, marking another first for a sitting U.S. president.
Since 1861, only the signatures of the Treasury secretary and the treasurer of the United States have appeared on U.S. banknotes.
