WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) fired a sweeping broadside at President Donald Trump on Monday, accusing him in a post to X of abandoning the responsibilities of the Oval Office in exchange for personal financial enrichment — enrichment, the senator argued, that is being paid for by American soldiers and American families. The accusation landed against a backdrop that is difficult to ignore: since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has overseen a near-doubling of his personal fortune, driven in significant part by crypto ventures that have drawn constitutional scrutiny from lawmakers in both chambers of Congress.
“The Very Corruption the Constitution Was Written to Prevent”
“Donald Trump isn’t governing, he is grifting,” Booker wrote in the post, published May 26, 2026. “It is not foreign policy, it is financial self-dealing — the very corruption the Constitution was written to prevent. American troops are dying for it. American families are paying for it. And Donald Trump is profiting from it. Raise your voice and stand with us, we will continue to do everything in our power to stop this.”
The senator’s language — framing presidential financial dealings as a constitutional violation rather than a political controversy — tracks closely with formal legislative action that has been building in Congress throughout the 119th session. The Foreign Emoluments Clause, found in Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the Constitution, bars the president from accepting any present or payment from a foreign government without the explicit consent of Congress. Multiple resolutions introduced in the Senate and House have cited that clause directly in challenging Trump’s financial activities.
A Fortune That Nearly Doubled in a Single Year in Office
The financial backdrop against which Booker made his accusation is stark. According to figures published by Forbes, Trump’s net worth climbed from roughly $3.9 billion in 2024 to $7.3 billion by the end of 2025 — a near-doubling of personal wealth within a single year in office. As of April 2026, Forbes pegged his overall fortune at approximately $6.3 billion, nearly three times his estimated $2.4 billion at the start of 2024.
A significant engine of that growth has been cryptocurrency. World Liberty Financial generated at least $1.4 billion for the Trump and Witkoff families since November 2024 — more than Trump’s real estate empire generated in eight years, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. World Liberty earned the Trump family at least $1.2 billion in cash over 16 months, plus $2.25 billion in paper gains from crypto holdings.\
World Liberty’s disclosures show 75 percent of WLFI token sales flow directly to a Trump entity, with President Trump owning 70 percent of that entity while unnamed family members own the remaining 30 percent. The arrangement has extended well beyond the president himself. By March 2026, Forbes estimated Trump had netted $550 million from token sales alone, and valued his stake in the venture at $240 million. Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Barron Trump’s stakes in World Liberty Financial are each worth at least $133 million, Forbes estimated in late 2025.
The Crypto Infrastructure Behind the Wealth
The financial architecture underpinning those gains is a layered crypto ecosystem that spans a presidential meme coin, a decentralized finance platform, and a dollar-pegged stablecoin — all tied, in varying degrees, to Trump’s political identity and government position.
World Liberty Financial, which Trump co-founded along with his three sons, describes itself as a platform designed to “keep the dollar digital” and provide “loans for institutions and everyday users.” Built atop multiple chains including Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Berachain, its lending and borrowing platform launched in January 2026. The project’s stablecoin, USD1, and the broader World Liberty Financial structure have drawn scrutiny not only for their financial entanglements with the presidency, but also for their international connections.
In February 2026, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) opened a formal inquiry into Binance — the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, on which World Liberty Financial relies heavily — over allegations that the platform allowed $1.7 billion to flow to Iranian proxies and Russia’s shadow fleet. “Instead of actually preventing illicit use,” Blumenthal wrote, “Binance has sought to evade accountability and influence the White House through lobbying and a financial partnership with World Liberty Financial.” In March 2026, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Justice opened an investigation into Iran’s use of Binance to evade sanctions.
Congressional Action: Resolutions and the Emoluments Clause
The legislative response to Trump’s financial activities has taken concrete form in the 119th Congress. Senate Resolution 244, introduced in the Senate, affirms that the acceptance and transfer of a Boeing 747-8 aircraft from the Government of Qatar — without the explicit consent of Congress — constitutes an illegal emolument, and demands the transfer of any such plane received by Trump or entities under his control to the permanent control of the United States Government.
The House resolution addressing the Qatar jet noted that Trump, through the Department of Defense, intended to accept a Boeing 747-8 aircraft described as a “flying palace” with an estimated value of at least $400 million for temporary use as a presidential transport aircraft, with ownership set to transfer to Trump’s personal presidential library foundation no later than January 1, 2029. When asked about the reported offer at a news conference, Trump said: “I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer…I could be a stupid person and say, ‘no.'”
Senator Patty Murray, joining Booker and 26 other senators in a resolution condemning the aircraft deal, stated: “It’s hard to imagine more brazen corruption or a clearer violation of our Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, and there’s no question this outlandish proposal puts our country’s national security at risk. Every member of Congress should support this simple resolution condemning violations of the Emoluments Clause and making clear Trump cannot accept a $400 million private jet from Qatar without explicit consent from Congress.”
A separate Senate resolution, S.Res. 242, condemned Trump’s private business agreements with foreign governments — including a residential tower in Saudi Arabia and a hotel in Dubai announced by Trump’s sons during a Middle East tour — for posing unacceptable conflicts of interest, affirming that such agreements violate the Foreign Emoluments Clause and demanding the transfer of any resulting proceeds to the U.S. government.
“American Troops Are Dying for It”
Booker’s assertion that American troops are “dying for it” is grounded in an active military posture the Trump administration has maintained since early 2026. U.S. Central Command announced in March 2026 that three U.S. service members were killed in action and five seriously wounded as part of Operation Epic Fury — a coordinated strike campaign launched against Iran on February 28, 2026. Trump, in a video posted to social media on March 1, 2026, acknowledged the deaths of those three troops and warned that more U.S. service members would “likely” be killed as the operation continued.
At least 13 U.S. troops in the Middle East have died since the beginning of the conflict with Iran, including six personnel killed in a drone strike on Port Shuaiba, Kuwait. More than 520 U.S. personnel have also been injured. The senator’s pairing of those casualties with presidential financial gains — simultaneous developments unfolding under the same administration — forms the central thrust of his accusation.
A Senator Who Helped Lead the Qatar Resolution Calls Out the Pattern
Booker was not making these accusations as an outside observer. He was among the senators who led the introduction of S.Res. 244, the resolution formally withholding Senate consent to the Qatar aircraft transfer. His post on May 26, 2026, drew a through-line from those legislative battles to a broader argument: that the accumulation of presidential wealth through foreign entanglements is not a series of isolated controversies, but a coherent pattern.
“Raise your voice and stand with us, we will continue to do everything in our power to stop this,” Booker wrote, closing the post with a call to public mobilization. The statement signals that Senate Democrats intend to sustain pressure on the administration over what they characterize as the systematic blurring of presidential duty and personal profit — a line, they argue, the Constitution was designed to hold.
The White House had not issued a formal response to Senator Booker’s post at the time of publication.
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