NEED TO KNOW
- New financial disclosures released this week revealed that first lady Melania Trump raked in millions last year
- President Donald Trump brought in at least $2 billion himself since returning to the White House, the filings showed
- Melania’s earnings from her self-titled documentary released by Amazon MGM Studios were $10.7 million
New financial disclosures released this week revealed that first lady Melania Trump raked in millions last year after President Donald Trump returned to the White House — and brought in at least $2 billion himself.
The 927-page filing, published by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics on Tuesday, June 30, showed Melania’s earnings from her self-titled documentary released by Amazon MGM Studios amounted to $10.7 million.
She also reported another $6 million from “the sale of NFTs and other collectibles,” and her self-titled 2024 memoir brought in another $521,000.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty
Melania, which premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington in January, was acquired by Amazon MGM Studios for $40 million. The studio spent another $35 million on a marketing campaign for the film.
The documentary follows Melania in the lead-up to her husband’s second inauguration in January 2025. It was directed Brett Ratner, who is known for directing Rush Hour and its two sequels, as well as The Family Man, X-Men: The Last Stand and Tower Heist.
Ratner was accused of sexual assault by multiple women, including Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge, in 2017; he has denied the claims and was never charged.
“Superior storytelling drives culture and in turn moves markets,” Melania said in January as she promoted the film at the New York Stock Exchange. “In the near future, cultural influence will matter as much as economic power. Our ability to tell our stories and emotionally connect with audiences is paramount. People long to be moved.”
The film garnered $7 million at the box office on its opening weekend, but ultimately grossed only $16.6 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.
ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty
In a May interview with CNBC, Amazon founder and executive chair Jeff Bezos defended the acquisition and claimed he “had nothing to do with that.”
“The Melania thing is a falsehood that will not die,” Bezos said. “I see it reported all the time that somehow I was involved in this.”
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“By the way, it appears it was a good business decision. It did very well in theaters. It’s done very well on streaming,” the billionaire continued. “People are very curious about Melania. So even though I had nothing to do with it, it appears that the Amazon team made a very wise business decision.”
Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance also released their financial disclosure, though it was a mere 17 pages. Usha’s disclosure revealed only that she has less than $250,000 in various retirement funds and investment portfolios.
In the 2024 financial disclosure released last year for former President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, Melania’s predecessor reported holding various retirement and pension funds, earning at most $53,000 from book royalties and speaking engagements, and earning a salary from her teaching job at Northern Virginia Community College — which previously was disclosed to be just under $90,000 a year.
“Americans… wanted a businessman in office,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said on Fox News on Wednesday, July 1. “So yes, the president has had a pretty successful career in the past as you know, but [his] policies are uplifting and making all Americans wealthier and more prosperous.”