Trump's self-enrichment violates this core 5-word principle: ex-White House attorney

Estimates of President Donald Trump's net worth vary, but according to Fortune, it was $7.3 billion in late 2025 — a major increase from $3.9 billion in 2024. Bloomberg News, on January 20, estimated the Trump family's net worth to be around $6.8 billion.

Trump, Time reports, has found a variety of ways to add to his wealth since returning to the White House, from Trump Media & Technology Group to cryptocurrencies and Trump-branded merchandise.

In a biting op-ed published by MS NOW on February 16, Ian Bassin — executive director of Protect Democracy and former associate White House counsel under former President Barack Obama — argues that Trump is doing everything he can to monetize his presidency and is denigrating the White House in the process.

"'Be allergic to free stuff' — that's the line I used to deliver in every ethics training I gave to White House staff when I was associate White House counsel under President Barack Obama," Bassin explains. "It captured, in plain English, a core principle of public service: You are there to serve the public, not your own interests, and even small gifts corrode judgment and squander the public trust. It feels resonant this Presidents Day to understand that the opposite has become the norm, despite what our founders envisioned."

Bassin continues, "The Wall Street Journal recently reported on a $500 million transaction between an Emirati royal and President Donald Trump's cryptocurrency firm, World Liberty Financial, that had sent $187 million to entities tied to the Trump family just four days before his 2025 inauguration. Amazingly, this has all but fallen out of the news."

Trump's actions, according to Bassin, not only raise ethics concerns, but also, "national security" concerns.

"When I told staff to be allergic to free stuff," Bassin recalls, "I said not to accept so much as a can of soda from anyone with business before the White House. Yet here's a report of something orders of magnitude more significant, and as a nation, we barely paid it any mind. That's a dangerous mistake. What the Journal report describes threatens not just the public trust or public decision-making, but also, our national security ... As we advised White House staff: Even the appearance of something untoward squanders the public trust."

Bassin adds: "Now, some federal ethics rules and statutes apply to the president while some regulations apply only to staff. Some past presidents, including the one I worked for, insisted on voluntarily adhering to the highest standards whether they legally applied to them or not."