Newsmax host Greg Kelly defended Donald Trump’s decision to feature his face on US currency for the 250th anniversary of America’s declaration of independence from the British monarchy by arguing that Great Britain includes its king on its currency.

“The $250 bill that should be coming with President Trump’s image on it, there is a freak out about it. How can we have a living person on US currency? Well, the UK does it with King Charles. That guy is still alive,” Kelly said on his show in a clip highlighted by Media Matters.

“OK, that’s another country, and he’s the king,” Kelly continued. “We did it here in America. A long time ago, there was some dude named Salmon Chase, and he was the Secretary of the Treasury way back when. And guess what? He pulled a few strings, and he got himself on the $1 bill.”

Chase, Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury, was featured on the now-discontinued $10,000 note and also appeared on the first $1 bill ever issued in 1862, more than two decades before the 1886 federal law banning a living person from appearing on U.S. currency was passed.

The Washington Post reported that the Treasury Department has prepared mock-up designs for a new $250 bill featuring Trump’s portrait, despite the 1886 law. The department reportedly reassigned Patricia Solimene, the now-former director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP), after she raised objections to the proposed bill.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the move to include Trump’s face on the $250 bill during a White House press briefing on Thursday.

“I don’t think that there’s anything untoward about having the president of the United States— the person who is president of the United States—on the 250th-anniversary bill,” Bessent said.

However, the Treasury cannot legally produce a $250 bill with Trump’s image unless Congress changes the law.

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina) introduced a bill in February 2025 ordering the Treasury to print “$250 Federal Reserve notes” with Trump’s portrait. U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach, a Trump appointee, has reportedly been meeting with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill to push for the passage of the bill. The legislation has so far been referred to committee and hasn’t advanced.

A Treasury spokesperson told the Post that the BEP is conducting “appropriate planning and due diligence” on Wilson’s bill and will be prepared to act if the legislation becomes law.

“Should this legislative mandate be signed into law, the BEP is moving proactively to produce a $250 commemorative note which will appropriately recognize the 250th Anniversary of our great nation,” the spokesperson said.