The total wealth of Trump’s top team is $340 billion — more than the GDP of 169 countries
Several billionaires and wealthy mega donors and executives are nominated for key economic posts
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump’s campaign pledged to be a champion for working class Americans. His incoming administration is stuffed with Wall Street figures and billionaires, including the world’s wealthiest person.
Trump himself is set to become the wealthiest president in history, with an estimated net worth of roughly $5.6 billion, according to Forbes. After spending years haranguing George Soros, claiming that the billionaire philanthropist was funding Trump’s political enemies and manipulating society with his support for progressive causes, incoming administration figure Elon Musk wants to be a Soros for the right.
Musk, whose net worth is more than $300 billion, joins key Wall Street characters and wealthy officials joining Trump’s White House. Together, their net worth exceeds $340 billion — larger than the gross domestic product of more than 11 dozen countries.
Trump has even picked Soros’s money manager Scott Bessent to lead the Department of Treasury.
The president-elect has tapped at least five billionaires for his administration thus far, including Musk, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former professional wrestling magnate Linda McMahon, investment banker Howard Lutnick, and venture capitalist and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum. All of them but Musk and Ramaswamy must be confirmed by the Senate.
Here is a look at some of the wealthy Wall Street executives and billionaires Trump wants in his administration.
Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary
Trump’s campaign economic adviser Scott Bessent founded Key Square Capital Management and worked at a hedge fund founded by major Democratic donor George Soros.
Before becoming a Trump donor and adviser, Bessent donated to various Democratic causes in the early 2000s, notably Al Gore’s presidential run.
Doug Burgum, Interior Secretary
North Dakota’s two-term Republican government Doug Burgum made more than $1.1 billion after selling his software company Great Plains to Microsoft in 2001.
After ending his own presidential campaign in December 2023, Burgum endorsed Trump and became an outspoken supporter.
Howard Lutnick, Commerce Secretary
The CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick, with an estimated net worth of more than $1 billion, has served as Trump’s transition team co-chair.
He has helped raise millions of dollars for Trump’s campaign and has been a cheerleader for Trump’s economic agenda, including the president-elect’s plans for broad tariffs.
Linda McMahon, Education Secretary
The co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment was nominated to lead an agency that Trump and his allies want to dissolve entirely. McMahon donated $6 million to Trump’s first campaign and later world with the Small Business Association during his administration. She is now a co-chair of his 2024 transition team after briefly serving on the Connecticut Board of Education,
She shares a $2.5 billion net worth with her husband, professional wrestling mogul and personality Vince McMahon.
Elon Musk, Department of Government Efficiency
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, helped steer more than $200 million into Trump’s campaign and has used his X platform, formerly Twitter, which he bought for $44 billion, as a megaphone for the president-elect and his agenda.
His net worth is at least $320 billion, according to Forbes, and his net worth has increased by more than $60 billion since Trump’s election. Musk, whose companies have received tens of millions of dollars in government contracts, will steer an outside advisory committee to recommend drastic cuts to funding, including mass firings and steep cuts to federal programs.
Jim O’Neill, deputy secretary of Health and Human Services
Jim O’Neill previously worked as a senior health official during George W. Bush’s administration and was considered for a top job at HHS in Trump’s first term. He later became the acting CEO of the Thiel Foundation, the philanthropic arm of billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, a former Trump mega donor who financially backed a Senate campaign from his former acolyte JD Vance.
O’Neill helped Thiel and investor Ajay Royan launch venture capitalist firm Mithril Capital Management, where the vice president-elect worked before his Senate campaign.
Jim Phelan, Navy Secretary
The founder of Palm Beach-based private investment firm Rugger Management is the former investments manager for billionaire Michel Dell of Dell Technologies.
Phelan, who does not have any military experience, reportedly hosted a fundraiser for Trump’s campaign this summer at his $38 million home in Aspen, Colorado, which cost $25,000 to $500,000 per couple.
Phelan and his wife Amy, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, are also avid art collectors, including works from Chagall, Dubuffet and Picasso, among others.
Vivek Ramaswamy, Department of Government Efficiency
Musk’s co-chair of the newly created DOGE Vivek Ramaswamy is a former pharmaceutical executive who briefly ran for the Republican presidential nomination before dropping out to throw his support behind Trump.
He made his fortunes with Roivant Sciences, a pharmaceutical company he founded in 2014. His net worth is estimated to be $1.1 billion, according to Forbes.
Steve Witkoff, special envoy to the Middle East
Real estate tycoon Steve Witkoff has an estimated net worth of roughly $500 million.
He reportedly has long-standing ties to wealth funds in the Middle East, much like his Middle East envoy predecessor Jared Kusher, Trump’s son in law, who secured a $2 billion investment from a fund led by the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman six months after leaving the White House.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments