Treasury Department officials appointed by President Donald Trump pressed the federal agency that prints U.S. currency to design a $250 bill bearing his portrait, a proposal bureau staff said raised legal concerns because federal law bars living people from appearing on U.S. currency, according to a Washington Post investigation published Thursday.
U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach and his senior adviser, Mike Brown, repeatedly urged Bureau of Engraving and Printing staff to develop prototype designs for the note, four current and former bureau employees told the Post. The employees spoke anonymously, saying they feared retaliation.
Current law allows only deceased people to appear on U.S. currency. The restriction has been in place since 1866.
Beach provided staff with mock-up designs in August and September, including one that placed Trump’s image at the center of the bill, with the signatures of both the president and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent alongside it, according to one employee and records reviewed by the Post.
The artist behind the design, British painter Iain Alexander, told the Post he discussed it with Trump directly. He said Trump suggested adding the colors of the American flag and a logo marking the nation’s 250th anniversary.
“He likes to call me his favorite British artist,” Alexander said.
Bureau Director Patricia “Patty” Solimene and her staff told Beach and Brown the project faced legal and procedural barriers and would take far longer to complete than the two officials expected, according to the four employees. Two employees said Beach and Brown dismissed those concerns.
Treasury management reassigned Solimene on April 27. In a goodbye email to colleagues obtained by the Post, she wrote that her departure was “not my choice.” Brown, who had pressed bureau staff on the proposed bill, was later named acting director.
A Treasury spokesperson told the Post that Beach “has never asked staff to print the bill before congressional passage” and said the bureau is conducting “appropriate planning and due diligence” tied to pending legislation. The agency declined to comment on Solimene’s reassignment.
Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., introduced legislation in February 2025 that would authorize the bill, but the measure has not received a hearing in the House Financial Services Committee, according to the Post.
Larry R. Felix, a former bureau director, said a $250 note “is not statutorily authorized” without an act of Congress. Currency experts told the Post that producing any new denomination also requires lengthy coordination with the Federal Reserve, the Secret Service and private sector partners.
The Post also reported that bureau staff agreed to a separate administration request to print $100 bills bearing Trump’s signature. Four employees told the newspaper those bills are being printed, and the Post reported that no law prohibits the change.
Beach, Brown and the White House did not respond to the Post’s requests for comment.
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