Trump's Crypto Earnings Spark Concerns of 'Putin-esque Corruption'

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie launched a scathing attack on President Donald Trump's cryptocurrency earnings during an appearance on ABC's This Week. Christie compared Trump's financial gains to the self-enrichment associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

'He and his family believe they are entitled to this,' Christie told host George Stephanopoulos. 'This is an entitlement to them. They believe, when they came back and won this election the second time, that gave them license. That the American people gave them license to essentially go and take whatever they could take over this period of time.'

Christie also criticized the jet gifted to the U.S. government by Qatar, which the Trump administration plans to convert for presidential use. He argued the project would still burden taxpayers despite being described as a gift.

The remarks followed the release of Trump's annual financial disclosure by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics on June 30. Covering 2025, the filing spanned 927 pages and showed Trump earned more than $1.4 billion from his family's cryptocurrency ventures in 2025.