Inside The Richest Presidential Cabinet Ever

Forbes Daily Briefing

Forbes

Careers, Business, News, Entrepreneurship

4.6 • 12 Ratings

🗓️ 17 August 2025

⏱️ 5 minutes

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Summary

The collective net worth of Trump’s Cabinet—made up of two Wall Street financiers, several former CEOs and TV hosts and just one career politician—is the highest ever, even before counting the president.

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0:00.0	Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Sunday, August 17th.
0:05.0	Today on Forbes, inside the richest presidential cabinet ever.
0:10.0	In October 24, just a few weeks before the election, Donald Trump took a seat at a town hall outside Detroit.
0:18.0	The billionaire to his right, transition chairman Howard Lutnik, leaned forward to explain
0:24.4	the kinds of people Trump had in mind for his return to the White House.
0:29.1	Lutnik said, quote, the best business leaders in the country, the best politicians want to
0:34.4	serve.
0:35.1	They will be loyal to him.
0:36.5	They will have fidelity to him. They will have fidelity to him.
0:38.1	They will follow his policies, and this will be the most extraordinary government you've ever
0:42.6	seen. It is extraordinary, indeed. Gone are the days of the generals willing to defy him.
0:50.5	Now, Trump's most ardent supporters, from Wall Street to the studios of Fox News, fill the seats next to him.
0:58.7	Even more notable is just how wealthy they are.
1:02.4	The billionaire president has assembled the richest cabinet in U.S. history.
1:06.8	Even without adding in Trump's own $5.5 billion net worth, Forbes estimates that his top
1:13.0	advisors are worth $7.5 billion, more than doubling the $3.2 billion combined worth
1:20.4	of Trump's 2019 cabinet. By contrast, Biden's cabinet of regular Joe's was barely worth
1:27.2	$110 million combined in 2021.
1:31.8	Most of the cabinet's staggering wealth comes from Lutnik, now Commerce Secretary,
1:37.1	and Linda McMahon, the Education Secretary, both of whom are billionaires.
1:43.1	Lutnik, Trump's top trade negotiator, has a net worth of $3.3 billion.
1:48.9	He made his bones on Wall Street, taking over daily operations of Cantor Fitzgerald the year
	...

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