Trump caught in bombshell grifting scheme

0:01Brian Tyler Cohen:Trump's financial disclosures betray the jaw-dropping amount of grift he's engaged in. And I interview Congressman Jared Moskowitz and the University of Michigan Law professor Leah Litman. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen and you're listening to No Lie. Donald Trump's 2025 financial disclosures just dropped. And the big reveal is that he made over$2 billion off the presidency so far in his second term, with$1.5 billion of it coming from crypto alone. So his document was 927 pages long. For comparison, Biden's financial disclosure was 11 pages. But let's say, hypothetically, you wanted to make the argument that Donald Trump is a businessman.

0:42Brian Tyler Cohen:After all, remember when he said this? I don't feel good about turning down money because my whole life I've been greedy, greedy, greedy. I've grabbed all the money I could get. I'm so greedy. But now I want to be greedy for the United States. I want to grab all that money. quote, my whole life I've been greedy, greedy, greedy. I've grabbed all the money I could, but now I want to be greedy for the United States. So listening to that, I get how some people could hear that and think, you know, this is what Trump does and now he's doing it for us. But his financial disclosure paints a much different picture because the reality is that his greed is still limited to just one person.

1:19Brian Tyler Cohen:In 2024, his total revenue was$622 million. In 2025, that ballooned to$2.2 billion. Here's some of his other financial windfalls. He took in$635 million from the Trump meme coin, while retail investors watched it crash from$74 to$1.68. He took in$594 million from World Liberty Financial token and stablecoin sales, which is a crypto venture that he founded with his sons. $65 million from selling equity in that same company. over 80 million in media settlements from ABC, CBS, Meta and YouTube. His total crypto haul was$1.4 billion in a year. And all the while, his net worth nearly tripled from$2.4 billion to$6.3 billion since taking office.

2:09Brian Tyler Cohen:And I just, I gotta say, like, Jimmy Carter sold his peanut farm to prevent the optics of impropriety. Meanwhile, Trump is swimming in money with conflicts of interest quite literally everywhere. His kids are getting rich. His deals with the UAE and Qatar are likely being funded by them heaping money into his pockets via crypto. Like, this is all such a blatant, severe violation of the Emoluments Clause that you would think the Constitution didn't even exist, all of which would be bad enough unto itself. But couple that with the state of the country and the hoarding of wealth looks just as egregious as it sounds.

2:45Brian Tyler Cohen:Like, just today, we found out that the U.S. added only 57 ,000 jobs in the last month. That is anemic. and May's job figures were revised down 43 ,000. April's job figures were also revised down 31 ,000. Add in the fact that prices have risen since Trump took office on gas, on electricity, on housing, on rent, on food. Add in the fact on top of that that we're spending billions to pay for a war in the Middle East that Trump swore he would avoid. Add on top of that the fact that the Epstein files aren't so much being released as they are being suppressed even more. And suddenly Trump's already egregious hoarding of wealth seems outright disgusting.

3:23Brian Tyler Cohen:And I make this point a lot, but I'm going to make it again. We can expect this from Trump. Doesn't absolve him, but he has been a con man his entire life. So this is all as predictable as the sun rising in the morning. But he would not be able to get away with this without buy-in from the rest of his party. The entire GOP has looked at this and decided that it is perfectly acceptable. And I'm not going to ask you what you think they would say if Obama or Biden did the same thing, because we already know the answer. They would be apoplectic, and rightfully so. But the fact that they can't bring themselves to utter a peep as their god-king triples his net worth in a year, at the same time that every single problem they campaigned on fixing has been exacerbated, is a testament to the fact that the entire party is there to serve not you, but him.

4:08Brian Tyler Cohen:Something to remember if they ever claim to be populist again. Next up are my interviews with Jared Moskowitz and Leah Littman. But first, a reminder that my new book, The Day After, is available now for pre-order, So if you'd like to support my work, that is the best way to do so. And I'll also be on tour. So if you live in New York, DC or LA, now is the time to grab those tickets. I have moderators for every event. So in New York, I'll be with Don Lemon. DC, I'll be with Jim Acosta. LA, I'll be with John Lovett. So if you'd like to see us both on stage, if you'd like to get your book signed in person, take photos, grab those tickets now while they're still available.

4:42Brian Tyler Cohen:I'm going to put a link to both pre-order the book and grab book tour tickets in the show notes of this episode. It's the same link for both. You can find lots of options to pre-order the book, and you can also find options to grab book tour tickets at that link. Okay, here are my interviews with Jared Moskowitz and Leah Littman. Elias brought to you by Ethos. So I just had a conversation with a friend just the other day, so excuse the morbidity here, but it was basically that the first 25 years of your life is celebrations and birthdays and weddings, and then the remaining 60 or 70 is just slowly watching the people that you love pass away, which is very sad, and it's also life and it's better to be prepared than not.

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6:43my lifetime, Donald J. Trump, maybe watch some fireworks. Won't be up here. It's going to be too hot, right? And I'm in bed at 11 o 'clock. I heard the fireworks ain't going off till 11 o 'clock Eastern on the 4th of July. I probably have to sleep through that one. But listen, everybody understands you're going to see a little increase in energy prices because of Iran. I mean, come on, people aren't stupid. You realize that when you have a conflict, Iran. But I think in the end, The short-term increase in some of the costs of energy, you know, gasoline and stuff, is temporary. But President Trump has made it very clear to these companies, don't be gouging.

7:18No price gouging. And I think that the overall goal and objective is to make sure Iran never has a nuclear weapon. So I'm okay with the increase in fuel because you knew it was going to happen, obviously, with oil and the strait and everything. But it's a temporary issue. You think 60 percent of Americans who are living paycheck to paycheck can afford lobster tails and ribeyes and all of that? Maybe not. Maybe the maybe the 60 percent of America don't work as hard as I do.

7:45Brian Tyler Cohen:I do. I mean, I don't know. I'm joined now by Congressman Jared Moskowitz. Congressman, that was Troy Nels, one of your Republican colleagues, basically criticizing the prospect that somebody wouldn't be able to afford lobster tail and steak on the Fourth of July because they just simply don't work as hard as he does. So can you give a little bit of an overview right now in terms of what you've seen in Congress that lends itself to this idea that Troy Nels is perpetuating that nobody works as hard as these Republican members of Congress? I mean, what a joke. I mean, look, he's just parroting his boss and the president, right, who said affordability is a hoax.

8:21That's worked out real great for the president, said that a couple of times. And his aides said you need to stop saying that, Mr. President, because that it's a real thing. People are struggling in this country. And then here comes Troy Nels. He walks down the marble steps of the Capitol and says, I'm going home and having lobster tails and ribeye. And, you know, the reporter says, you know, well, what about the people who can't afford it? And he says, well, you know, forget the 60 percent Americans who can't afford it and don't work as hard as me. Work as hard as you, Troy. I don't know if you know this, but in the first six months of the year, Congress has only worked 44 days.

8:55We have only worked a total of 44 days. In fact, I'm home now. Now, we're supposed to be in D.C. yet again, the speaker sent this home. This time they didn't have the votes to get the votes to stop people from voting. OK, it's the wildest thing. They were trying to stop people from voting with their, you know, Save America Act. Right. Want to make it harder for American people to vote. But they didn't have the votes for that. So they canceled votes. It is, again, the least productive Congress. And we're only beating the 118th Congress, which was the least productive Congress before them. And so, yeah, look, you know, Troy Nails is so out of touch, but so is the president.

9:34You know, a billion dollars he made in crypto, 750 million dollars he made in stocks. He's flying a plane donated to him by the Amir of Qatar, you know, that's lined in gold. You know, and so, you know, the American people are hurting. That's why you're seeing results around the country. People are talking about affordability, gas prices, grocery prices, health care. It's all too expensive. And my friends across the aisle are dramatically out of touch.

10:22Brian Tyler Cohen:I'll put on the screen and in the post description of this video. You can also find them at Brian Tyler Cohen dot com slash book. Again, I'll never paywall a single piece of content, but this is the one time that I'll ask for some support for a book that I really think meets this moment. Thanks so much. Talk about the housing bill, because this was a moment that that really was supposed to be a big a big celebration for even the Republicans. This would this would show that Trump was making good on his own promise during the campaign that he would make housing more affordable. So big bipartisan bill passes the House, passes the Senate.

10:54Brian Tyler Cohen:They're preparing for this big signing ceremony. And Trump balks on signing this thing because he wanted to use it as a hostage to get the Save America Act passed. Are you hearing anything from your Republican colleagues about the fact that he's making their reelection campaigns more difficult because he outright refuses to hold true to any of the promises that he himself made on the campaign? Listen, he made several promises during the campaign, but he said that he would do two things on day one. One, he would fix the cost of living, and two, he would end the Ukraine war. He's done neither of those.

11:26In fact, they're worse than they were than he took office. They finally passed a bipartisan piece of legislation that could bring down the cost of housing. I was happy to support it. And the president snatches defeat from the jaws of victory. decides after the speaker set up this beautiful signing ceremony in the Capitol. He had the seal out for the president to show up. The president says, I'm not coming and decides to hold the bill hostage. Meanwhile, the hostage taking didn't work. It failed. And we were sent home because he couldn't even convince Republicans to go along with this scheme. And they're mad because they wanted to go home and say, we did this to bring down the cost of home ownership.

12:05We did this to bring down the cost of living. And they can't even do that because they can't even get the bill that we passed on a huge bipartisan note signed by the president, who, by the way, remember, every week is infrastructure week and every week is housing week. He literally took the housing guy and put him in charge of national security. And so another failed attempt by my Republican friends, again, least productive Congress in American history, and we're only beating the last Congress, the 118th, which was the least productive Congress in 100 years.

12:39Brian Tyler Cohen:Well, I mean, I understand that this isn't going to make housing more affordable per se, but really what matters is that Trump is doing well. And in fact, we just got some new news that his net worth has tripled, that he's made over a billion dollars thanks to his crypto investment. He's, you know, making money hand over fist with his meme coins and stable coins. So what do you say to his voters out there who believed him when he promised that he was going to be looking out for the little guy? And as you said, all of the problems that they were contending with in 2024 have been exacerbated, whether it comes to high prices, high gas costs, food costs, grocery costs, clothing, electricity.

13:18Brian Tyler Cohen:We have a brand new war in the Middle East that he promised we would never get into. The Epstein files still haven't been released. All those problems are even worse. But Trump himself has seen his net worth increase three times higher. Yeah, I mean, listen, we don't have to say anything about it. His voters have seen it. That's why you've seen this split in MAGA. That's why the president's poll numbers are at all time lows. Right. They've seen it. They've seen while they're struggling. Let's not forget the farmers, what the tariffs have done to the farmers. Right. You know, president's policies have hurt his people, the people he said that I'm going to make life better for you.

13:51Not only is their life not better, the only life who's better is the president. And now apparently Eric and Don Jr.'s life's going to be better because today the president said he's going to give them the Congressional Medal of Freedom.

14:02Brian Tyler Cohen:Let's actually play that clip right here. They're the only father and son pair to receive our nation's highest military award for courage above and beyond the call of duty. Now, as I see my two beautiful sons sitting there, I think I'm going to give one to myself, one to them, and we'll have a threesome, OK? I'll pick out one of the two. I'll give them the Congressional Medal of Honor for something. For their genius at hunting. And I'll get one for taking on Russia, Russia, Russia or something. All right. Well, that was interesting to say the least. I'm going to go shower, okay? I'm not really sure what that was about.

14:52Brian Tyler Cohen:I mean, I thought was the was the president of the United States offering up a threesome with his children. Not on your bingo card this morning. It was not. And I'm going to reserve comment on what he would. I thought it was bad when he was like, I'm going to give my family the Congressional Medal of Freedom. And then he doubled down and he was like, and then we're going to have a threesome. Well, you know what? Why stop the party there at just the Medal of Freedom? You know, if everybody's riding high, might as well just go to its go to its natural conclusion, I guess. Again, just out of touch.

15:23Americans are struggling and he's talking about giving gold medals to his children.

15:28Brian Tyler Cohen:You know, Republicans have the ability to serve as a check on him. Now we have just a few months until midterms. He's obviously acting in such a way that puts on full display that he doesn't give a shit about what happens to him or his party during midterms. Why won't any of these people serve as a check to him, stand up to him, act as a co-equal branch of government and try not? for once, contracting every ounce of their autonomy over to him. I mean, Mike Johnson couldn't even bring himself to say that he was blindsided when Trump reneged on the housing bill. Why don't these people help themselves?

16:04Brian Tyler Cohen:Why do they just insist on heaping every ounce of deference onto the guy who's screwing them over in this upcoming election? Well, look, Speaker Johnson cosplays as Speaker, right? He's only doing what Trump allows him to do. He doesn't have autonomy. But look at the Senate. The Senate's a complete disaster, right? after the president removed basically Bill Cassidy by primarying him. Same thing with John Cornyn. And then you've got members that are retiring. I mean, the only time people decide to stand up to the president is either when the president beats them in a primary or they decide to retire.

16:34It's too late for them. They've let the president run over them. They decided when they refused to stand up on Epstein and let the president run with the talking points for three or four months on how that was a hoax. and, you know, we shouldn't release it. And, you know, it was a Democratic ploy and all that. And then eventually he lost his entire party and they eventually turned against him. It was clear at that point they weren't going to stand up to them. And since then, none of them have. And so it's too late for them. They own the last 18 months of the second term of the Trump presidency.

17:08They don't even have committee hearings anymore because they don't really want to talk about it right now. What is their message? What are they telling voters that they've done in the last 18 months? They've accomplished nothing. All they've done is made things worse for the American people. And so the reason they don't have an agenda to run on is because the president has not allowed them to do that. And so they're never going to show any autonomy whatsoever. Donald Trump owns the party. There is no Republican Party. There is no platform. It's whatever Donald Trump says in the morning. And when Donald Trump says, hey, I'm giving my kids medals of freedom and then we're going to have a threesome.

17:41That's that's the policy of the day.

17:43Brian Tyler Cohen:Right. Right. You know, you represent a Trump plus nine district. What have your conversations with voters been like? And have you spoken to any independent or or Republican voters since you've been back in your district? Well, yeah, look, they gerrymandered my district. Right. And turn it into a district that Trump, you know, won one by nine points. And so people are very mad about that because they did the gerrymandering in two days. People didn't really get to go up and testify. We didn't have a process. Right. Unlike some states that put it to their voters, this was done completely like by the legislature, similar to Texas.

18:17Texas did over a period of weeks. Florida was done in like two days. Yeah. And so the voters are very mad about that. They don't even know what districts they're in, quite frankly. They didn't even know what happened. So a lot of time I'm educating people that, hey, you're now in you're now in the new district or you're no longer in the district. I'm no longer going to represent you if I win reelection. And they're like, well, when did this happen? How did this happen? But look, affordability is not a hoax. It's the number one issue. It's the number two issue. It's the number three issue. Americans are struggling.

18:48The American dream is slipping away. Young people feel it more than than than anybody else because they're dealing with their future of AI and what their opportunity is going to be. and they're seeing, obviously, costs go up and wages be stagnated. So it's a real challenge for young people. And that's why you're seeing them more involved in the process than ever before. This is where Democrats have to have a message that when we get power, when Hakeem Jeffries gets that gavel, we're not just going to fight against the president, which we will, but we have to come with positive legislation to make people's lives better.

19:23And what does that look like? Lowering the cost of health care, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, looking at Medicare for all. I mean, that right there would do a tremendous amount. Going back to housing, right, lowering the cost of housing. I mean, you start there, you can really make a tremendous impact on people's lives.

19:43Brian Tyler Cohen:Yeah, I think that's well said. Congressman, I appreciate your time. Thanks so much. Thanks, Brian. No Lie is brought to you by Common Power. Last year, when the GOP started early redistricting, they made it clear that earning Americans' votes was the least of their priorities. And after gutting the Voting Rights Act, they have doubled down on their attempts to rig the midterm elections. Common Power believes that Democrats can still take back the House and the Senate by focusing on two things. One, policies that benefit the working class and tax the rich. And two, expanding the Democratic coalition.

20:15Brian Tyler Cohen:As Republicans rely on rigged maps to win, Common Power is how Democrats fight fire with people power. Common Power is the organizing force for training and deploying volunteers to door knock for Democrats in over 20 battleground states and over 50 races this year alone. Their team are driven by next generation leaders, and we need your support to fund their travel and development. We're done waiting for half-cooked election autopsies and poll-tested speeches from establishment Democrats. This election requires our leaders to get creative and use every tool at their disposal, including trained, dedicated volunteers from across the country mobilizing to win in key battleground states.

20:50Brian Tyler Cohen:Support Common Power, the organizing force of volunteers fighting to shift the balance of power at commonpower.org slash crooked. I'm joined now by co-host of the Strict Scrutiny podcast and law professor at the University of Michigan, Leah Lippman. Leah, thanks so much for joining me. I wanted to have you on because obviously we've seen the rest of the Supreme Court decisions get handed down. So I want to talk a little bit about about what we've seen. But first and foremost, something that was especially striking for me was in this birthright citizenship case. I know that a lot of people are going to basically applaud the fact that this was a win for the Constitution, a loss for Trump, who was trying to not congratulate, do not congratulate, but like a loss for Donald Trump.

21:31Brian Tyler Cohen:But at the same time, this was, depending on how you look at it, either a 6-3 or a 5-4 decision, you know, with Brett Kavanaugh kind of floating on both sides of this question, depending on what the specific narrow ask is. But how can you have three justices who are willing to defy the plaintext of the Constitution and say that birthright citizenship could be upended given the fact that it's written right there in the founding document? It's actually worse than that. Four justices said that. So this is a six to three, five to four bit. So what happened is six justices, and those six included Justice Kavanaugh, said that the executive order violated the federal statutes that Congress had passed guaranteeing birthright citizenship.

22:11But then Brett Kavanaugh split off from that six to say, actually, the Constitution wouldn't prohibit this executive order, meaning that if Congress repealed these statutes guaranteeing birthright citizenship tomorrow, Kavanaugh, together with three other Republican appointees, would have said this executive order can deny birthright citizenship to some people who are born in the United States in violation of the plain text of the 14th Amendment and really the foundation of our post-Civil War constitutional order. That is terrifying. The Supreme Court should not be in a position to just nullify entire constitutional amendments because they disagree with Reconstruction.