Trump 24-karat gold coin approved by hand-picked federal panel

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Sareen Habeshian

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Reuters

A commemorative gold coin bearing the image of US President Donald Trump has been approved by a federal arts commission.

The 24-karat gold coin is intended to mark America’s 250th birthday this 4 July and portrays Trump with his fists pressed against a desk.

After a presentation by the US Mint, the US Commission of Fine Arts voted unanimously to approve the design, despite questions over its legality.

Federal law does not allow a living president to appear on US currency. But the coin is being issued in accordance with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s authority and discretion to mint and issue proof gold coins.

Bessent is expected to order the coin to be struck once the US Mint produces final dimensions.

The commission’s vice-chairman, James McCrery, said: “I motion to approve this [coin] as presented, and with the strong encouragement that you make it as large as possible, all the way to three inches in diameter.”

For comparison, a US quarter dollar is less than an inch wide. Trump last year fired the Commission of Fine Arts’ members, replacing them with allies.

A Democratic congressman from New York, Ritchie Torres, last year proposed a bill titled Trump (The Restrict Ugly Money Portraits) Act, to bar presidents from issuing currency bearing their own likeness. It has not passed.

The US Mint did not respond to a request for comment from the BBC.

Until now, Calvin Coolidge is the only other US president to have featured on a coin in his lifetime.

Daniel Torok

The coin design is based on a photo by Trump’s chief White House photographer

Donald Trump

United States