Trump's Appointees Approve Coin, Want His Image Bigger

A federal arts panel appointed by President Trump has endorsed a new 24-karat gold coin bearing the president's image, deepening a dispute over whether a sitting president should appear on currency. The Commission of Fine Arts on Thursday approved a US Mint proposal for a commemorative coin for the nation's 250th birthday showing Trump leaning on a desk with clenched fists, based on an official White House photograph now in the National Portrait Gallery. A Mint official told the commission that Trump personally signed off on the design, the Washington Post reports. Trump removed the previous panel members last year and appointed loyalists in their place. No commission members raised any objections at the meeting, per the AP, but there were concerns.

They want the image of Trump to be big, "as large as possible," said architect James McCrery II—maybe 3 inches in diameter. "I think the larger the better," said Trump aide Chamberlain Harris, adding that that would be the president's preference, per CNN. "I think the president likes big things," added McCrery, the original architect of Trump's plans for a White House ballroom. Usually, new coin designs are reviewed by both the arts commission and the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, but the latter panel declined last month to take up the Trump gold coin proposal. "It's wrong. It goes against American culture and the traditions that drive what we put on our coinage," said Michael Moran, a Republican who was appointed on the recommendation of then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Such coins typically sell for several thousand dollars.