Trump often boasts that he doesn’t take a salary as president.
But the truth is, the billionaire has made a staggering fortune in 2025.
And not from new business ventures or real estate deals, but from winning massive settlements against some of the world’s biggest corporations.
As sitting President of the United States, Donald Trump earns a $400,000 annual salary, the same amount presidents have received for the past two decades, per CBS News. The president also enjoys a $50,000 non-taxable expense allowance, a $100,000 travel budget, and a $19,000 entertainment fund.
Trump has famously given away his early presidential salary to different causes throughout both of his terms, even directing the first paycheck of his second term to help fund renovations at the White House.
Meta settlement
But the 47th President of the United States is certainly not hurting for money.
Trump’s courtroom victories that have been making headlines this year. And the payouts are nothing short of staggering.
Earlier in 2025, Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) agreed to pay Trump a whopping $25 million.
The lawsuit dated back to 2021, when Trump sued after his social media accounts were suspended following the January 6 riots.
Those bans were only lifted in 2023, and of the settlement, $22 million will reportedly go toward funding Trump’s upcoming presidential library, which The Guardian says is expected to open in January 2029.
YouTube million settlement
In late September, YouTube also reached a settlement with the president, agreeing to pay $24.5 million. Like Meta, YouTube had suspended Trump’s channel after the Capitol riots, prompting a lawsuit that accused the platform of amassing “an unprecedented concentration of power, market share, and ability to dictate our nation’s public discourse.”
The case was dropped after the settlement was finalized.
Twitter (Now X) forks over $10 million
Back in February, Twitter — now known as X — settled for $10 million after being sued for permanently banning Trump’s account in 2021.
At the time, the company (under different ownership) justified the suspension “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
Paramount and CBS pay up
Then came the summer blockbuster of settlements; $16 million from Paramount, the parent company of CBS, in July 2025. The payout stemmed from Trump’s lawsuit over a CBS interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris.
In his tweet, Senator Bernie Sanders claimed Trump actually received $36 million from CBS, a figure believed to combine Paramount’s $16 million and an additional $20 million “gift” in advertising and programming from the network’s future owner, David Ellison.
As The Guardian noted, Trump confirmed that Ellison would provide him with “$20,000,000 worth of advertising and programming.”
Bernie Sanders slams “kleptocracy”
It’s clear that Bernie Sanders isn’t a fan of this, and he didn’t hold back in his reaction. He took to X to post a viral tweet listing the massive amounts Trump has reportedly received this year, writing simply:
“This is what kleptocracy looks like.”
He then broke down Trump’s alleged 2025 windfall:
- $3 billion: mostly from crypto
- $940 million: law firms
- $400 million plane: Qatar
- $36 million: CBS
- $25 million: Meta
- $24 million: YouTube
- $16 million: ABC
- $10 million: X
And Sanders ended his list with a jaw-dropping final entry:
“Now $230 million from DOJ?”
Trump’s next target
According to The New York Times, Trump now wants $230 million in compensation from the Department of Justice, the very agency he oversees. The payout, he reportedly claims, would make up for the cost and damage of federal investigations into him over the years.
Sources told the paper that the proposed settlement could be greenlit by senior DOJ officials who have previously defended Trump and remain close to his administration.
“I don’t know about the numbers. I don’t even talk to them about it,” Trump said Tuesday. “All I know is that they would owe me a lot of money. But I’m not looking for money. I’d give it to charity or something.”
Love him or hate him, there’s no denying that Donald Trump has turned legal battles into a major revenue stream in 2025. But it raises a question: should a sitting president be raking in millions from settlements while leading the country?
Some call it savvy business; others call it a conflict of interest. What do you think — clever strategy or a step too far?
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