Donald Trump's Cabinet Is The Richest Ever

Forbes

a day ago

In October 2024, just a few weeks before the election, Donald Trump took a seat at a town hall outside Detroit. The billionaire to his right, transition chairman Howard Lutnick, leaned forward to explain the kinds of people Trump had in mind for his return to the White House. 'The best business leaders in the country, the best politicians want to serve,' Lutnick said. 'They will be loyal to him, they will have fidelity to him, they will follow his policies, and this will be the most extraordinary government you've ever seen.'
It is extraordinary indeed. Gone are the days of the generals willing to defy him. Now, Trump's most ardent supporters—from Wall Street to the studios of Fox News—fill the seats next to him. Even more notable is just how wealthy they are. The billionaire president has assembled the richest Cabinet in U.S. history: Even without adding in Trump's own $5.5 billion net worth, Forbes estimates that his top advisors are worth $7.5 billion, more than doubling the $3.2 billion combined worth of Trump's 2019 Cabinet. (By contrast, Biden's Cabinet of regular Joes was barely worth $110 million combined in 2021.)
Most of the Cabinet's staggering wealth comes from Lutnick, now commerce secretary; and Linda McMahon, the education secretary—both of whom are billionaires. Three men in their 60s—treasury secretary Scott Bessent, interior secretary Doug Burgum and energy secretary Chris Wright—each sit atop fortunes of at least $100 million. Then there is health and human services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is largely shunned by his wealthy family, and a smattering of entrepreneurs and businesspeople like labor secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who cofounded an anesthesia practice in Portland, Oregon, with her husband, a doctor. The only career politician is secretary of state Marco Rubio, one of 11 mere millionaires in the Cabinet. Of course, no members of the Cabinet are quite as wealthy as the man they serve, the only billionaire president in American history.
Additional reporting by Dan Alexander and Chase Peterson-Withorn.
Cabinet members are shown below in order of descending net worth.
Trump spent his years out of office figuring out how to profit from politics. He launched Trump Media and Technology Group in 2021 and its social media platform Truth Social the next year. His roughly 40% stake in the publicly traded company is his most valuable asset, worth $2 billion. Since Trump's return to the White House, its underlying business has shifted—from social media to cryptocurrency. The company has piled up hundreds of millions in losses, but MAGA-friendly investors don't seem to mind, buying up shares and boosting Trump's net worth in the process. The president has other cryptocurrency ventures, too. He launched a memecoin in January, days before taking office, boosting his liquidity by more than $100 million, according to Forbes estimates. A project named World Liberty Financial, which has added hundreds of millions more, recently unveiled a stablecoin, a type of cryptocurrency that tracks the U.S. dollar. In July, Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law, providing regulatory clarity for stablecoins—good news for crypto entrepreneurs, including himself. Howard Lutnick Age: 64 | Secretary of Commerce | Net worth: $3.3 billion
Trump's top trade negotiator made his bones on Wall Street, taking over daily operations of Cantor Fitzgerald the year he turned 30. He entered the national consciousness on September 11, 2001, when the firm lost more than 600 employees, including Lutnick's brother, in the World Trade Center. Lutnick, who happened to be dropping his son off at kindergarten that day, built back Cantor and steered the firm, rooted in Treasurys, toward real estate and cryptocurrencies. He made plenty of enemies along the way, while building himself a fortune. 'The whole firm is about f——— people,' says one former employee. 'It's about squeezing people.' Lutnick's two twenty-something sons now help lead Cantor. Read more. Linda McMahon Age: 76 | Secretary of Education | Net worth: $3.3 billion
McMahon and her now-estranged husband, Vince, bought his father's wrestling company in 1982 and grew it into the global entertainment titan that World Wrestling Entertainment is today, with Linda serving as president or CEO from 1993 until 2009. Forbes estimates that they still own some 6.4 million shares in TKO Group, WWE's parent company—worth nearly $1.2 billion at Tuesday's close—and have amassed plenty of cash and other liquid investments as well. After two failed Senate runs in Connecticut, McMahon served as head of the Small Business Administration in Trump's first term. Scott Bessent Age: 62 | Secretary of the Treasury | Net worth: $600 million
Bessent built a career on big-picture bets: inflation, currency valuations and economic growth. He had much of his success working for GOP bogeyman George Soros, rising to the position of chief investment officer at Soros Fund Management. Bessent failed to generate consistent returns at his own hedge fund, Key Square, however. He's bought and sold plenty of real estate over the years, and recent acquisitions include a $4.25 million home in Cashiers, North Carolina in 2022 and a $12.5 million Washington, D.C. estate in January. Read more. Doug Burgum Age: 69 | Secretary of the Interior | Net worth: $100M+
North Dakota's former governor, Burgum got about $100 million of Microsoft stock in 2001, when the tech giant bought Great Plains Software, a business software company he led as CEO. Having sold his final Microsoft shares this year when he joined the federal government, Burgum now owns homes and farmland across the country, a North Dakota real estate development firm and a venture capital company, Arthur Ventures, that invests in American and Canadian business software startups. He has likely transferred some of his wealth to trusts for his heirs. Read more. Chris Wright Age: 60 | Secretary of Energy | Net worth: $100 million
The energy secretary made his fortune from a series of companies in the oil and gas industry, most notably Liberty Energy, a fracking firm he founded in 2011. Wright's pockets are flush with cash after he had to dump his over $40 million stake in Liberty Energy and nearly $6 million in other energy stocks to become energy secretary. His biggest asset now is a 9,500-square-foot estate valued at $38 million (about $31 million after debt) in the exclusive Yellowstone Club, a private ski resort for the wealthy. Wright also has a couple properties in the Denver area worth a combined $4.5 million before debt. Lori Chavez-DeRemer Age: 57 | Secretary of Labor | Net worth: $35 million
A proponent of pro-union legislation and the daughter of a Teamster, Chavez-DeRemer seems to cut an odd profile in the Trump administration at first. But her wealth, derived from multiple entrepreneurial ventures, makes her fit right in. The former Oregon congresswoman and her husband, Dr. Shawn DeRemer, cofounded a Portland anesthesiology practice in 2005 that now serves over 80,000 patients and prints $6 million in profits annually, DeRemer tells Forbes . The couple's 50% share in it could be worth north of $20 million—and DeRemer says they are in the process of taking the company to market. They also cofounded other medical practices in the Portland area—one offers Botox, lip fillers and other cosmetic treatments; another does medication management, including ketamine, for patients with mental health conditions—and own a home outside Phoenix, Arizona worth an estimated $3.1 million before $1.4 million in debt. Brooke Rollins Age: 53 | Secretary of Agriculture | Net worth: $15 million
After serving in a less-glamorous policy role in Trump's first administration, Rollins founded the America First Policy Institute alongside McMahon and Larry Kudlow in 2021. She served as its president and CEO, earning about $500,000 a year for three years. Her husband, Mark Rollins, works as the president of Hillwood Energy and HKN Energy, oil-and-gas firms held by Ross Perot Jr., whose father twice ran for president in the 1990s. The secretary of agriculture and her husband own a Texas home worth about $2.7 million before debt. She also splits a lake house in Texas with another family worth close to another $800,000 or so. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Age: 71 | Secretary of Health and Human Services | Net worth: $15 million
One of Bobby Kennedy's 11 children, RFK Jr. hasn't inherited much of the family fortune. He still has some old-money assets, though, including a million-dollar stake in Wolf Point, a massive development in downtown Chicago on land his Grandpa Joe acquired back in the 1940s. The HHS secretary also holds an estimated $1.6 million of Bitcoin. His wife, actress Cheryl Hines, best known for her role in HBO's 'Curb Your Enthusiasm,' holds retirement accounts worth more than $750,000. The couple has multimillion-dollar homes in Los Angeles, Massachusetts, and as of April, Washington, D.C., where they just bought a $4.4 million townhouse. Read more. JD Vance Age: 41 | Vice President | Net worth: $12 million
Trump's second-in-command fought his way up from Rust Belt poverty to the height of American society. After a stint in the Marines and degrees from Ohio State University and Yale Law School, Vance gained fame telling his rags-to-riches story in 'Hillbilly Elegy,' the memoir that reportedly sold over three million copies and turned him into a national figure. In 2019 he founded his own VC firm, Narya, and soon paid off his student loans; he sold his stake after joining the Senate in 2023, collecting more than $1 million. This year, Vance downsized from three homes to two, moving into the vice presidential mansion and pocketing $1.9 million from selling a Virginia property in March. Read more. Pam Bondi Age: 59 | Attorney General | Net worth: $5 million
The daughter of two public servants, Bondi has spent just six years of her career out of government, 2019 through 2024. It was a lucrative break, during which time she more than tripled her net worth. First, Bondi lobbied on behalf of big corporations like General Motors and Amazon and even the emirate of Qatar. She also worked for a MAGA think tank headed by agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins (see above). And consulting for Trump's social media company earned her shares and warrants that she sold for over $1.25 million in April. Flush with cash, she and her husband, a real estate investor, appear to have torn down and rebuilt their century-old Tampa home starting in 2021, boosting its estimated value to at least $2 million. Read more. Kristi Noem Age: 53 | Secretary of Homeland Security | Net worth: $5 million
South Dakota's former governor grew up on a family farm. Her fortune mainly comes from her private-sector husband, who owns Noem Insurance, a Bryant, N.D. (population: 471)-based firm that sells policies to protect everything from homes and farm equipment to crops and other businesses. Bryon Noem earned $1.1 million over the past two years in salary and profits from the business, which he bought from a South Dakota bank in 2010. He also purchased a plot of land near a Walmart in Pierre, South Dakota in 2021 and, with a business partner, built a car wash on it; his stake in the business is worth an estimated $300,000 net of debt. Read more. Sean Duffy Age: 53 | Secretary of Transportation | Net worth: $5 million
Duffy has worn many hats in his life, once acting as a contestant on MTV's The Real World and a professional lumberjack, then as a Wisconsin district attorney, and eventually as a congressman and a Fox News host. Now, he heads the Department of Transportation and is the interim NASA administrator. Duffy has a portfolio nearly as colorful as his career trajectory, including a collection of gold and silver coins and bars worth more than $100,000. He also holds up to $1 million of Bitcoin. He has three homes: a New Jersey mansion worth $2.7 million before debt, a D.C. townhouse purchased in February for about $2.1 million and a Wisconsin cabin worth about $750,000 before debt. His stints in Congress and as a Wisconsin district attorney earned him pensions currently worth a combined $250,000. Scott Turner Age: 53 | Secretary of Housing and Urban Development | Net worth: $4 million
A former NFL cornerback, Turner was drafted to the Trump Cabinet after four years in the Texas House of Representatives, then a stint leading the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump's first term. Turner's time in the NFL served him well: His league retirement pension is worth over $600,000, and his stake in the players' annuity program is worth between $500,000 and $1 million. The HUD secretary also has a Texas home valued at about $1.7 million before debt. Pete Hegseth Age: 45 | Secretary of Defense | Net worth: $3 million
Hegseth took a roughly 90% pay cut to leave Fox, where he cohosted the weekend edition of Fox and Friends, one of Donald Trump's favorite shows. Despite earning more than $2 million a year at Fox, Hegseth isn't all that rich, after spending big on a leveraged mansion in Tennessee and two divorces. Forbes estimates some two-thirds of his current fortune actually comes from his wife, a longtime Fox producer and executive. Read more. Marco Rubio Age: 54 | Secretary of State | Net worth: $1.5 million
The son of Cuban immigrants, Rubio was the poorest Republican to run for president in 2016, prompting Donald Trump to call his finances 'a disaster.' Today, the former Florida House speaker and senator is a millionaire thanks to his state's real estate boom. His West Miami home has roughly doubled in value since he bought it in 2021, leaving him with over $1 million in estimated equity. Rubio still doesn't have much cash, though, with much of his savings tied up in retirement accounts and pensions he cannot access for another eight years. Read more. Doug Collins Age: 58 | Secretary of Veterans Affairs | Net worth: $1 million
Collins spent almost half his life as a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He has military and congressional pensions currently worth a combined $350,000 and about $200,000 in fresh cash after he sold a Florida condo in June for $710,000. The VA secretary owns a Georgia home on Lake Lanier worth about $1.7 million before debt. He also owes up to $800,000 on a couple lines of credit. HEADER ILLUSTRATION BY YUNJIA YUAN FOR FORBES; PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES (6); WHITE HOUSE (11); BACKGROUND: ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
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