The White House is on solid legal ground with plans to release a commemorative coin of President Donald Trump for the country’s 250th independence celebration, according to a senior Trump administration official.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett pushed back on Sunday against CNN host Jake Tapper’s suggestion that the Treasury Department’s development of a $1 coin could violate a century-old law.
“It bears the image of the current president, President Trump. This, despite the fact that an 1866 law enshrined in the U.S. Code says a living person cannot be featured in the U.S currency,” said Tapper, host of State of the Union. “This obviously dates back to concerns about wanting to avoid the appearance of a monarchy. Is President Trump planning on changing that law?”
Hassett said the Trump administration was not at risk of breaking the law.
“In terms of reading through what is and isn’t available under that law, that there have been times in the past where commemorative coins have been printed with the faces of living people, and so I think that they’re on solid ground if they decide to do that,” Hassett said.
No fake news here. These first drafts honoring America’s 250th Birthday and @POTUS are real.
Looking forward to sharing more soon, once the obstructionist shutdown of the United States government is over. https://t.co/c6HChM6ijG
— U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach (@TreasurerBeach) October 3, 2025
Treasurer Brandon Beach previewed a draft of the coin on Friday afternoon. The coin was designed as the commemorative coin for the United States’s semiquincentennial on July 4, 2026.
The front of the coin shows a side portrait of Trump, while the back shows an image similar to Trump’s stance following an assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania, last July.
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“No fake news here. These first drafts honoring America’s 250th Birthday and @POTUS are real,” Beach wrote in a post to X. “Looking forward to sharing more soon, once the obstructionist shutdown of the United States government is over.”
A Treasury spokesperson said the drafted coin “reflects well the enduring spirit of our country and democracy, even in the face of immense obstacles.”