U.S. Mint Planning Commemorative Gold Coin Featuring Trump for Nation’s 250th Birthday

A federal commission is set to meet on Thursday to review a controversial United States Mint proposal to produce a 24-karat commemorative gold coin featuring President Trump.Mr. Trump hand-picked the current United States Commission of Fine Arts after firing all of the previous members in October. The commission is an independent federal board charged with giving expert design and aesthetics advice but does not have approval power over coin designs. That rests with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.Mr. Bessent is expected to approve the coin — to be issued in conjunction with celebrations of America’s 250th anniversary. As envisioned, the coin would feature a scowling image of Mr. Trump with his fists leaning on a desk on its front. The coin would have Liberty written at the top and the years 1776 and 2026.A separate but little-known advisory committee that also gives input on design proposals refused, last month, to even take up a discussion on the proposal. The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee held an online meeting in February during which the acting chairman, Donald Scarinci, started by criticizing the proposed coin.The “review and discussion of a Semiquincentennial Gold Coin” had suddenly been added to the agenda days before the meeting. Mr. Scarinci said a majority of the committee wanted the topic removed from the meeting agenda.“Anyone with an understanding of history and numismatics knows that the Declaration of Independence was our founders’ statement for cutting the ties between the colonies and the King,” Mr. Scarinci said during the meeting. “For 250 years since that great document was signed, with a few controversial exceptions, no nation on Earth has issued coins with the image of a democratically elected leader during the time of their service.”“Only those nations ruled by kings or dictators display the image of their sitting ruler on the coins of the realm,” Mr. Scarinci — a Democrat added to the Congressionally-created bipartisan committee at the recommendation of Senator Chuck Schumer — added.The commemorative gold coin is the second planned coin featuring Mr. Trump. The Mint has circulated three proposed designs for a Semiquincentennial $1 with Mr. Trump on the front. Critics have complained that the coin would violate the spirit of coin-related laws by depicting a living American president.Congress must approve the creation of legal tender. It approved the creation of coins to celebrate the anniversary, but that came before the proposal for them to feature Mr. Trump.A spokeswoman for the Mint told the New York Times that a law authorizing the special anniversary coins did not include a prohibition “on placing living persons on the obverse (front) of coins.”The Treasury Department posted a message to X that Mr. Bessent was honored to produce a coin honoring Mr. Trump, stating, “On this momentous anniversary, there is no profile more emblematic for the front of this coin than that of our serving President, Donald J. Trump.”The Trump administration has apparently tried to bury criticism over the coins.The February meeting where Mr. Scarinci pulled the Trump coin from the agenda was removed from the United States Mint’s YouTube channel after news coverage. Independent journalist Marisa Kabas was first to report on the meeting being scrubbed.The criticism remains online from other sources, however. Mr. Scarinci posted a short clip featuring his remarks on his personal X page and another member of the committee posted a copy, this week, of the entire meeting on YouTube.The Mint did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. Mint Planning Commemorative Gold Coin Featuring Trump for Nation’s 250th Birthday

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