Congressman Cohen Leads a Letter Urging Treasury Department to Halt Efforts to Produce a Gold Coin with Trump’s Likeness
Plan conflicts with federal law, precedent and tradition
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today led a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urging him to rescind any consideration of producing a gold coin with the likeness of President Donald J. Trump, noting that the plan “conflicts with federal law, congressional precedent, and well-established principles governing United States currency.” Current federal law stipulates: “Only the portrait of a deceased individual may appear on United States currency and securities.”
“Day after day, the Trump Administration ignores laws and demolishes well-established democratic norms,” said Congressman Cohen. “Minting a coin with a sitting President’s likeness is blatantly illegal, and something typically done only under dictatorships and monarchies.”
The letter is signed by Congresswomen Zoe Lofgren of California, Betty McCollum of Minnesota, Jahana Hayes of Connecticut, and Eleanor Holmes Norton of Washington, D.C., and Congressman Gilbert Ray Cisneros Jr. of California.
The letter reads in part:
“We write to urge you to rescind any consideration of producing a gold or circulating coin or currency featuring President Donald J. Trump’s likeness during his lifetime. Such an action would conflict with federal law, congressional precedent, and well-established principles governing United States currency.
“The prohibition of using the likeness of any living person on U.S. currency is clear and has been for 160 years. Congress has repeatedly confirmed its intent on this issue, as recently as 2005…
“In 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Presidential $1 Coin Act into law, which further reinforces the restriction: ‘No coin issued … may bear the image of a living former or current President, or of any deceased former President during the two-year period following the date of the death of that President…’
“Due to the statute’s clear prohibition and the broader historical and policy rationale, we respectfully urge you to immediately halt any consideration, planning, minting, printing or distribution of coinage or currency featuring President Trump’s likeness while he is alive. Thank you for your careful attention to this matter, which is critical to preserving both legal integrity and public confidence in the nation’s money.”
See the letter here.
# # #