Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that a single person requested to buy 10 Trump gold cards.
Engineers connected to the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are reportedly building a system for the U.S. to sell the special government visas, costing $5 million each.
“We've got so much as I travel around, the attention on the Trump gold card. I mean, it makes me very popular,” said Lutnick. “Last night, I was out to dinner, and someone came up and said, ‘Can I buy 10? And how do I buy 10?’ And I'm like, that's pretty good. It's $50 million for dinner. So, you know, it's paying for my dinner.”
Members of DOGE are working with staff from the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to develop a website and application process for visas, The New York Times reported earlier this month.
President Donald Trump said in late February that the gold card would give “very high-level people” a way to gain citizenship.
Trump and Lutnick noted that the program would replace the EB-5 visa, which grants permanent residence to those willing to invest in American businesses, issuing green cards to individuals who invest either $800,000 or $1.05 million and create at least 10 jobs for Americans. Last year, it raised as much as $4 billion.
Last month, during an appearance on the All-In podcast, Lutnick claimed that he had sold 1,000 visas “yesterday.” But The Times reported earlier this month that no money had been exchanged so far.
“So if you have a gold card — which used to be a green card — you’re a permanent resident of America,” Lutnick said at the time. He suggested that most holders wouldn’t become U.S. citizens.
“They pay $5 million, and they have the right to be an American and the right to be in America as long as they’re good people and they’re vetted and they can’t break the law,” said Lutnick.
While speaking to reporters on Air Force One earlier this month, Trump showed a laminated gold card featuring his face and a bald eagle.
“For $5 million, this could be yours,” he said at the time. “Anybody want to buy one?”
In February, he claimed, “Wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card.”
“They’ll be wealthy, and they’ll be successful, and they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people, and we think it’s going to be extremely successful,” he added.
