Trump appointees rush to put his face on cash — despite it being illegal: report

Two Donald Trump political appointees are pressuring the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing to violate federal law by placing Donald Trump's portrait on currency — and have already pushed aside the career official who refused to comply with their demands.

According to an exclusive Washington Post investigation, U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach and his senior adviser Mike Brown have repeatedly pressured bureau staff to move forward with a $250 bill featuring Trump's face, despite the fact that federal law explicitly prohibits living people from appearing on American currency.

Beach provided bureau staff with mock-up designs in August and September showing Trump's face in the center of the proposed $250 bill, positioned between the signatures of Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The artist who designed the mockup told the Post he had discussed the project directly with Trump.

According to the Post report, the scheme violates a 160-year-old federal prohibition. No living person has appeared on U.S. currency since 1866, when the practice was outlawed after a mid-level Treasury bureaucrat's image appeared on a 5-cent note. Legislation introduced in Congress last year to allow Trump's image on currency for the nation's 250th anniversary has languished without passage.

Patricia "Patty" Solimene, the first female director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and a 24-year Army veteran, repeatedly told Beach and Brown that the proposal violated federal law and that currency production requires six to eight years of development.

"She had told them we're not authorized to do this. We can't progress any further, and all the stakeholders have not even met to discuss the next steps," one employee told the Post. "Currency often takes six to eight years to produce a new bill, particularly one of such high value."

The political appointees dismissed these warnings. On April 27, Solimene was abruptly reassigned from her position. In a farewell email, she wrote that her departure was "not my choice" and stated: "I never sacrificed the values or character of myself or the organization and always prioritized the U.S. Currency Program and the value each employee brings to the mission. The buck stopped here."

Mike Brown, Beach's former senior adviser, has been named acting director of the bureau — positioning him to oversee printing projects that bypass legal restrictions.

Solimene and her staff have already consented to another administration request: printing $100 bills featuring Trump's signature — the first time in American history a sitting president's signature has appeared on currency. Those bills are currently being printed at the bureau's downtown Washington facility.

In a statement to the Post, a Treasury Department spokesperson claimed Beach "never asked staff to print the bill before congressional passage," but refused to comment on Solimene's removal.