President Trump reported a $10.71 million licensing fee tied to “Melania,” the Amazon MGM Studios documentary about the first lady, as part of a financial disclosure that showed the president’s total 2025 revenue topping $2.2 billion, driven largely by his family’s cryptocurrency ventures.
The mandatory disclosure, released Tuesday and reviewed by the Hollywood Reporter, showed Mr. Trump’s reported income more than doubling from a minimum of $622 million the previous year, with roughly $1.4 billion coming from cryptocurrency ventures including World Liberty Financial, according to the New York Times.
Amazon MGM Studios paid $40 million to acquire “Melania,” according to the Hollywood Reporter’s review of the filing. Trade publications reported Amazon spent another $35 million marketing the film, a figure the production has disputed. The documentary brought in about $16.6 million at the worldwide box office before moving to Prime Video. The disclosure also listed a $521,161 licensing payment tied to the first lady’s “Melania” memoir, published by Skyhorse, along with net proceeds from NFTs and other collectibles associated with Mrs. Trump, according to the Hollywood Reporter’s review of the filing.
The size of Amazon’s investment in “Melania” has drawn scrutiny from congressional Democrats. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, and Rep. Hank Johnson, Georgia Democrat, opened an inquiry earlier this year into whether the deal amounted to “part of a corrupt pay-to-play arrangement with the Trump administration.” Ms. Warren said Amazon’s offer came in $26 million above the next-highest bidder, reportedly Disney, and called the arrangement “bribery in plain sight,” accusing the company of “trying to buy the President’s favor by dumping millions into the Trump family’s pockets.”
Amazon has rejected that characterization. The company’s vice president of public policy, Brian Huseman, said in a statement that the studio “became the licensor of the film and accompanying series following a thorough and competitive bidding process,” adding that the decision was based on “the access, the story, and its cultural and historical relevance.” Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, in a May interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” called the influence-buying allegation “a falsehood that will not die,” saying “I had nothing to do with that” and that, regardless, “it appears the Amazon team made a very wise business decision.”
On the crypto side, the disclosure showed the bulk of Mr. Trump’s windfall came from World Liberty Financial and the president’s memecoin business, CIC Digital. The filing did not directly reference a separate transaction, reported by the Wall Street Journal and confirmed by CNN, in which an investment firm backed by Abu Dhabi interests associated with Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan purchased a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for $500 million four days before Mr. Trump’s second inauguration. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly has said the president’s assets are managed independently and that “there are no conflicts of interest.”
Ms. Kelly, addressing the crypto income specifically, said in a statement that Mr. Trump “proudly made the United States the crypto capital of the world through executive actions, supporting legislation like the GENIUS Act, and other commonsense policies to drive innovation and economic opportunity for all Americans.” She added that “any so-called ’reporters’ pushing otherwise are recycling the same, tired, false narrative that Democrats and the legacy media have been pushing for a decade.”
The disclosure also detailed payments Mr. Trump received under several legal settlements, including $16 million from Disney/ABC over his defamation suit against ABC News and George Stephanopoulos, $16 million from Paramount/CBS over an edited “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, and payments from Meta, YouTube and X tied to suits alleging censorship after his accounts were restricted following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The settlement funds from Disney, Paramount and Meta were directed to the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation, while the YouTube payment went to the Trust for the National Mall.
Amazon MGM Studios is expected to release a companion docuseries tied to “Melania” later this year.
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