It's just been revealed that Donald Trump is releasing a new book featuring some very surprising letters.

Read on to discover what we know so far about the former POTUS's latest volume and its unexpected contributors. All dollar values in US dollars.

Last week, Axios revealed that Donald Trump plans to publish a collection of 150 private letters written to him by some of the famous and influential people he's met over the years. 

Letters To Trump has been pieced together by Winning Team Publishing, a company set up by Republican operative Sergio Gor and Donald Trump Jr. According to the company, this latest work "captures the incredible, and oftentimes private correspondence, between President Donald J. Trump and some of the biggest names in history throughout the past 40 years!"

The names certainly are big, with correspondents reportedly including Presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush, and Richard Nixon, celebrities such as Michael Jackson and Jay Leno, and other high-profile figures such as Hillary Clinton and even the late Queen Elizabeth II. 

But not all of the contributors are still writing to him today...

Speaking to far-right publication Breitbart News on Sunday, Donald Trump promoted his upcoming book. Having been asked what readers should expect, he replied that "they’re going to see a very fascinating life."

One surprisingly friendly correspondence has been trailed, and it comes from none other than talk show host and cultural icon Oprah Winfrey (pictured). 

Writing back in 2000, long before Trump's political career, Oprah was reportedly responding to compliments from Trump when she states: "It’s one thing to try and live a life of integrity – still another to have people like yourself notice.

"Too bad we’re not running for office. What a TEAM!"

It would be fair to say that Oprah's opinion of Trump has changed. In a recent interview on CBS Mornings, she explained: "I think he'd written a book and said that he wanted me to be his running mate ... if he decided to run."

On her "TEAM" comments, Oprah continued: "I might have thought it back then. I might have thought it 23 years ago. I'm not thinking it today."

It seems that Trump has got the message. According to Axios, Trump writes: "Sadly, once I announced for president, [Oprah] never spoke to me again." 

The letter is pictured here.

The most jaw-dropping items in Trump's collection might be his letters from North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. The two men are pictured here at a meeting in the Korean Demilitarized Zone back in June 2019. 

Speaking affectionately about the ruthless despot at a Virginia rally back in 2018, Trump revealed that he and Kim were "really being tough … and then we fell in love, OK? No, really – he wrote me beautiful letters, and they’re great letters." 

The Kim letters have been troublesome for Trump. They were among the classified documents that the ousted president took from the White House following his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on 6 January 2021. The letters were later found stashed in Trump’s Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago.

So how much could Trump earn from his latest release? We can't be sure, but copies can be pre-ordered now ahead of the 25 April release date, and cost a whopping $99 – or $399 for a signed edition. 

But if his last post-presidential publication is anything to go by, Letters To Trump could be seriously lucrative...

In late 2021, Trump signed another big book deal with Winning Team Publishing. Our Journey Together is a coffee table book featuring "never before seen photos" from Trump's presidency, each accompanied by a caption written by Trump himself.

The initial print run of 200,000 copies sold out in a matter of weeks, with some signed versions selling for up to $1,749 online. The book went on to gross over $20 million in the first two months of sales alone.

Could Letters To Trump be an even bigger money-maker? Only time will tell. But books are far from Trump's only source of funds.

Read on to discover what we know about Trump's other money-making efforts, before, during, and after the White House...

The former president continues to profit from the swaths of property he owns across the world, including 125,000 square feet of commercial real estate near Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. During his presidency, Donald Trump raked in an impressive $781 million from his commercial real estate portfolio, and during the COVID-19 pandemic Trump's commercial real estate investments have helped keep his finances afloat.

Trump benefited from long-term commercial tenants locked into long leases. In fact, in two office building locations – 555 California Street (Trump has a 30% share) and New York City’s 1290 Avenue of the Americas – rent in 2020 actually increased, quite a feat considering most businesses pivoted to working from home models and many offices were empty.

However, Trump may be concerned about the future of his commercial real estate interests. These assets make up three-quarters of his fortune but had an estimated $1.3 billion in debt tied up in them as of October 2021, according to Forbes.

Trump is pictured here in 1980 with a model of what is arguably the most famous building his organization has built: Trump Tower. While the entire building is multi-use, floors 66 to 68 consist of Trump’s personal triplex penthouse apartment. The apartment alone is worth an estimated $64 million.

Trump also boasts a bulging residential real estate portfolio, with more than 500 units across America, which had an estimated value of $235 million at the beginning of 2020 but dropped to $148 million due to the impact of COVID-19. More recent figures from Investopedia suggest his global residential real estate could now worth around $340 million. 

Trump also leases residences he’s not occupying, which is quite the money-maker. During 2017, the former president rented out his estate Chateau des Palmiers on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin for an eye-watering rate of up to $20,000 per night. 

Trump's empire of hotels has also boosted his bank balance before, during, and after his time in the White House. In November 2022, it was revealed that several governments spent a fortune staying at one of his hotels in the first two years of his presidency. According to accounting records from the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC – which were obtained by a House Oversight Committee from Trump's former accounting firm Mazars – the ex-President made over $750,000 from six foreign governments in 2017 and 2018.

This figure includes around $74,000 from the UAE, more than $90,000 from Saudi Arabia, $250,000 from Malaysia, and $280,000 from Qatar. (Trump is pictured here with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2018.) 

Trump also profited from hosting high-profile officials from China and Turkey. And that's not all: records have also shown that "lobbyists and other businesses with connections to foreign governments spent tens of thousands more at Trump’s Washington property," according to CNN.

Trump ultimately sold the hotel (pictured) for a reported $375 million to investment fund CGI Merchant Group, which removed his name from it and reopened the hotel as the Waldorf Astoria Washington DC in July 2022. But it's since been back at the center of an investigation into whether Trump's money-making impacted his presidential duties. 

According to the US Constitution's Emoluments Clause, presidents are forbidden from profiting from any "King, Prince, or foreign State" without congressional consent. Democrats sitting on the House Oversight Committee are now trying to find out whether any of the foreign governments mentioned in the records were using payments to influence US foreign policy while Trump was in the White House.

There's no direct evidence that this is the case, and the Trumps have vehemently denied the allegations. However, CNN reports that "many of the hotel stays coincided with significant foreign policy events, including meetings between Trump and other foreign leaders and US efforts to resolve the 2017 Middle Eastern blockade of Qatar." During these visits, senior officials from Gulf countries booked some of the hotel's most expensive rooms while actively seeking political support from the US. 

It's not just foreign governments that have paid to stay at Trump's hotels. According to another investigation, he's also profited from some very surprising guests. An earlier report by a House Oversight Committee found that, over the four years of Trump's presidency, he charged the Secret Service "excessive nightly rates on dozens of trips" as he traveled between his properties, "fleecing taxpayers." 

He reportedly spent 428 days at properties including Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida and his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey (pictured) between 2017 and 2021. Federal employees were forced to spend as much as $1,185 per night to stay at Trump's properties, despite claims from his companies that Secret Service officers would be able to stay "for free" or "at cost" when traveling with the former POTUS to protect him.

The committee has claimed these fees were charged to support Trump's "struggling businesses." It's true that Trump's hotels didn't fare quite so well during the COVID-19 pandemic due to reduced travel – and his Washington DC hotel (pictured) was causing problems even before that.

Despite the influx of funds from foreign governments, revenues sat at around $52 million a year between 2017 and 2019, and there wasn't really enough profit to cover the interest on the $170 million loan on the hotel from Deutsche Bank. When the pandemic hit, the hotel saw revenues fall below $20 million and Trump sold it shortly after. 

The property tycoon may have moved out of America’s most famous house, but he has plenty of other million-dollar residences to choose from, including the previously mentioned Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, which Trump allegedly bought in 1985 for $10 million.

The value of the 58-bedroom property has since skyrocketed to $350 million, according to the most recent estimates by Forbes. In fact, it's one business interest that wasn't too greatly impacted by Trump's presidency, bringing in $22.9 million in 2020, up from $22.3 million in 2015.

The estate, the name of which means "sea-to-lake" in Spanish, hit troubled waters in 2022 when the FBI raided it for classified documents it suspected Trump had taken from the White House. But Trump is still managing to monetize his home; his 2024 campaign reportedly paid $67,865 for catering and room rental at Mar-a-Lago during his presidential announcement last November. 

Other properties belonging to Donald Trump include Seven Springs in New York, and his aforementioned Caribbean home in Saint Martin (pictured), reportedly worth $13 million. Trump is also believed to own two homes in Sterling, Virginia with a combined value of $1.5 million, along with two other properties in Palm Beach in addition to Mar-a-Lago. 

In 1999, Trump acquired his first golf course, the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Trump Golf has since expanded to include 16 locations in the US, Scotland, Ireland and Dubai, with two sites in Indonesia and another Dubai course coming soon. During his time in office, the then-president raked in an impressive $943 million in revenue from his golf courses and members’ clubs, according to Forbes.

As with the rest of his real estate, Trump’s golf and club resorts saw revenues drop during the pandemic due to stay-at-home orders, falling 27% in 2020 to an estimated $190 million. Trump reportedly has $18 million in debts from his golf interests, and $330 million from his resorts and hotels. More recent figures from CNN suggest his golf clubs and resorts have now gone back up in value to $650 million, but filings have shown that his Scottish clubs are still struggling...

Trump has two golf courses in Scotland: the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire (pictured), which opened in 2012, and Turnberry in Ayrshire, which opened in 2014. He resigned as director of his golf businesses before entering the White House and his majority stake now belongs to a trust run by members of his family, with his sons Donald Jr and Eric serving as the new directors.

Although the turnover for both courses increased significantly from 2020 to 2021, largely due to loosening COVID-19 restrictions, the clubs made a combined loss of over $4.9 million in the last financial year, according to accounts filed with the UK's Companies House. 

Bought with the intention of making "the world's best golf course," the 1,400-acre Trump International Golf Links at the Menie Estate (pictured) reported a turnover of $2.45 million and gross profits of over $245,000. This turnover may be almost double the course's turnover from the previous year, but the course still reported a pre-tax loss of $854,400. It's the 10th year running that the links, which reportedly employed 53 people who were paid a total of $1.9 million in 2021, have made a loss.

Meanwhile, Turnberry (pictured) also saw its turnover almost double, hitting a much higher $16 million in 2021. However, this figure still wasn't enough to save the course from making a loss of $4.5 million. Like the Trump International Golf Links, Turnberry hasn't made a profit in around 10 years. It employed 333 people who were paid a total of $9 million in 2021.

A whole host of products and companies fall under the Trump umbrella, and the value of the Trump brand – like his net worth – has been hotly disputed over the years.

After the Capitol riot in January 2021, Trump Plaza in Florida’s West Palm Beach voted to drop Trump’s name, and New York City has attempted to stop his contracts for ice rinks, a carousel, and a golf course. An ongoing lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James could prove even more damaging. If Trump and his eponymous Organization are found guilty of fraud, the Trumps will be permanently banned from operating businesses in New York, while Donald and the Trump Organization will be banned from buying commercial real estate in the state for five years. 

Donald Trump claimed that his name was worth $3 billion in 2011, while Forbes reported that a more modest $200 million was a better estimate. More recently, Forbes has said it's probably worth just $60 million. 

Another recent money-maker is the Trump Card, which supporters can get for a donation of $45. Cardholders are considered "THE MOST important group of supporters" apparently. Some commentators have pointed out similarities between the eagle on the card and the eagle used as a symbol by Nazi Germany.

Trump's ongoing mission to "Make America Great Again" has been incredibly profitable, even now he's out of the Oval Office – and his emails can rake in huge amounts of cash. In fact, the 45th's political donor list is considered the "most valuable email list in Republican politics," as POLITICO puts it. In the third quarter of 2022, it averaged donations of $260,000 every day, with Trump typically sending just under 10 emails daily. 

Even the ongoing investigation into White House documents at Mar-a-Lago has proved profitable for Trump. According to The Washington Post, Trump received up to $1 million the day after the raid last August, as his fundraising team sent emails to supporters to ask for donations. One email claimed: "We need EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN PATRIOT to take action and bolster our Official Trump Defense Fund. This is the ONLY way to DEFEND President Trump and help him SAVE AMERICA."

That said, recent filings have suggested Trump's fundraising efforts could be running dry, a potential worry for the 45th president as major donors such as AFP pledge their support to rival candidates.

According to financial filings from the Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, Trump's main political fundraising vehicle, the committee raised only $4,951,463 since 29 November 2022. Analysis carried out by the Huffington Post also shows that Trump made just $2.4 million in the week after he announced his 2024 campaign – a fraction of the figures he was able to raise during his first campaign. In the fortnight that followed, this number dropped to $2 million and then $1.2 million. 

An anonymous Republican consultant speaking to HuffPost said: "[Trump's] timing was so poor. He announced at the exact time of the depression in fundraising for the entire party." 

​The Save America Joint Fundraising Committee isn't Trump's only committee though. His campaign officially entered 2023 with $3 million in the bank, a sharp drop from the $19 million his 2020 campaign had at the same point in that election cycle.

However, Trump's PAC Save America began 2023 with $18.3 million, while his super political action committee (PAC) Make America Great Again Inc reportedly had $54 million after spending $15 million on the midterm elections in October. Given the super PAC was reportedly started to raise funds for Republican candidates during the midterms, some people believe that $15 million, which represented just 20% of the committee's total assets, was an inadequate donation.

It's not the first time Trump's fundraising efforts have come under embarrassing scrutiny. On 16 January, Spectrum News 13 anchor Greg Angel revealed on Twitter that a fundraising email seemingly from Ron DeSantis had supposed links to Donald Trump's campaign.

People close to Trump's campaign have vehemently denied any involvement, denouncing the email as "FAKE."

In the latest threat to Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, a major US political donor has signaled that he won't be backing the former POTUS's next presidential bid. Announcing the withdrawal of support, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), a conservative political advocacy group funded by multi-billionaire Charles Koch (pictured) and his late brother David, stated "the American people have shown that they're ready to move on, and so AFP will help them do that."

An official from AFP Action has confirmed to CNN that the group won't be supporting Trump's latest White House bid. This represents a big loss to the Trump campaign. Last year, AFP spent more than $70 million on political causes, including midterm election campaigns.

His political fundraising may be stalling, but Trump is clearly no stranger to raising cash quickly. In May last year, for example, he hit headlines when it was revealed that he'd hosted a $75,000-a-head fundraiser at Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby. The event was held in aid of his PAC MAGA Again!, a pro-Trump group that's believed to be raising money for his potential presidential bid. 

That wasn't Trump's only high-profile fundraising event of 2022. MAGA Again! also hosted a fundraising dinner that September where guests could have their photo taken with Trump for a modest $100,000. The candlelit dinner took place at Trump’s lavish Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, and private golf opportunities with The Donald were available upon request, though they no doubt came with a hefty price tag attached.

Last December, Donald and Melania Trump also attended a private fundraising event in Naples, Florida. Guests who managed to get their hands on the "extremely limited" non-refundable tickets for "the Holiday Event of the Year" could pay $10,000 for the privilege of attending the party and having their photo taken with the former POTUS and First Lady. 

In January 2021, Trump announced that he'd be setting up his own social network "to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech" following his high-profile suspension from Twitter, which has since been reversed. To do this, he co-founded the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG). The Washington Post has reported that Trump received "90% of the company's shares in exchange for the use of his name and some minor involvement" in the business, which launched its first project – the hotly anticipated social network Truth Social – on Presidents' Day (the third Monday of February) in 2022. 

The company may have launched just one project so far, but it has grand ambitions. According to TMTG's corporate website, the firm is "building the future of media and technology" and ultimately hopes to compete with brands such as Netflix, Disney, CNN, and even Amazon Web Services (AWS). However, the brand has been plagued with problems from the start...

TMTG has been under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) since October 2021, when the SEC launched an investigation into its merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp. Digital World is a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC: a business set up for the sole purpose of acquiring other firms.

The SEC is reportedly investigating the way the two companies communicated before announcing their deal, and has requested information about Digital World's stock trading and its communications with Trump's firm, according to CNBC. Former company executive Will Wilkerson, who filed a whistleblower complaint against TMTG in August 2022, has told the SEC that fundraising efforts via Digital World did indeed rely on "fraudulent misrepresentation... in violation of federal securities law." 

While 90% of TMTG shares are held by Trump, the majority of Digital World shares are owned by small investors, according to The New York Times. Research quoted in Russia Today revealed that shares in the merger company were trading at $73.12 on 24 January 2022, making it the best-performing SPAC in history at the time of its IPO. They later peaked at $97 in March that year.

The Digital World share price has since plummeted, with the ongoing SEC investigation causing a mass exodus of institutional investors late in 2022. And another red flag was the fact that Digital World changed its address to a mailbox at a UPS store.

The merger deadline has been extended to September this year. A successful deal would provide TMTG with access to billions of dollars in financing – but Trump, who has remained quiet about the upcoming vote, is apparently prepared to finance TMTG himself if the merger falls through. In a Truth Social post in September 2022, the former POTUS wrote: "Who knows? In any event, I don’t need financing, ‘I’m really rich!’ Private company anyone???"

With $138 million of private investment already withdrawn from Digital World amid the controversy, and Trump expected to drop his exclusivity contract with Truth Social in anticipation of his return to Twitter, Forbes might have to re-evaluate its April 2022 claim that the network boosted Trump's net worth by $430 million. 

Donald Trump’s interest in gold isn’t purely esthetic – it's also been reported that he owns thousands of dollars’ worth of the precious metal in a financial capacity.

In 2015, the then-Republican candidate nominee submitted financial statements to the Federal Election Commission, which listed gold assets worth between $100,001 and $200,000. Trump also accepted gold bullion in place of a lease deposit from a tenant of his 40 Wall Street building in a highly publicized event in 2011.

Reports from former aides have revealed that Trump struggled to readjust to life after the White House, becoming frustrated at his lack of press coverage and the loss of Air Force One. But having avoided two possible impeachments during his tenure, he's still entitled to all of post-presidency perks, which include a $199,000 annual pension, as well as travel expense allowances, staff, and personal security for life. 

After teasing a "major announcement" on Truth Social, Trump officially unveiled his inaugural collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on 15 December 2022. Built on the Polygon blockchain, his 45,000 digital trading cards feature "incredible, hand-drawn art, inspired by President Trump’s extraordinary life & career." The images show Trump in various guises, from posing in front of Trump Tower with lasers coming out of his eyes to standing on the moon in a cowboy hat.

In a promotional video for the collection, during which he claimed to be "better than Lincoln" and "better than Washington," Trump revealed that each digital trading card would cost $99 (or the equivalent in cryptocurrency). As well as getting the card, buyers are automatically entered into a sweepstake to win "amazing prizes such as dinner with [Trump]." The former POTUS added: "I don't know if that's an amazing prize, but it's what we have." 

The entire 45,000-strong collection sold out in around 12 hours, according to CNET, meaning it netted $4.45 million in total. And the value of the cards kept going up; by 19 December, data from OpenSea.com showed the NFTs had a floor value of around 0.299 Ethereum (ETH), a type of cryptocurrency. This works out to around $354, meaning the trading cards more than tripled in value since they were initially listed for $99. But what Trump intends to do with the money – and how big a paycheck he'll receive – remains a mystery.

When Trump's wife Melania launched her own NFTs in December 2021, she announced that a portion of the proceeds would be donated to children aging out of the foster care system. No such announcement was made about her husband's collection. 

The NFTs were produced by a company called NFT INT, which has stated that the money raised through the sale of the cards won't fund Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. Like many Trump-branded products in the past, these NFTs haven't been made by Trump himself; he's simply licensed his name and likeness. But this means he's bound to profit from the project and can use the cut he earns from NFT INT for whatever he likes – including his 2024 bid.

However, the cards could prove more costly than Trump was expecting. According to accusations on social media, the supposedly "hand-drawn art" bears a striking resemblance to various images online, including stock backgrounds and products listed for sale on websites such as Amazon and Walmart. NFT INT has reportedly not confirmed whether they paid to license the artwork shown in the pictures, prompting the cryptocurrency website CryptoVinco to tweet: "Donald Trump to face potential lawsuit after his NFTs used stolen stock photos." 

Could Trump's latest venture fall foul of copyright infringement laws? We'll have to wait and see. 

Some of Trump's money has come from overseas too. According to financial records that have been seized by the New York attorney general's office, the Trump Organization borrowed $19.8 million from the South Korean conglomerate L/P Daewoo prior to his presidency. The two businesses reportedly partnered on a project near the United Nations headquarters in New York (pictured), with the debt arising because Trump agreed to split some of his licensing fees with the company. 

The loan wasn't disclosed on the financial documents that Trump handed over to the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) while running for president in 2016, so details have only just come to light as part of the investigation into the Trump Organization's tax dealings, according to Forbes. A New York attorney general finally obtained the documents in December 2022.

Trump's relationship with Daewoo goes back decades. Between 1997 and 2007, the Trump Organization and South Korean conglomerate reportedly partnered on a number of construction projects, with Daewoo using the Trump name on six properties built in South Korea – and at some point, Daewoo started lending Trump money. The documents show that the company lent Trump $25 million in connection with projects in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Brazil, Florida, Arizona, Canada, and Chicago.

Like the $19.8 million debt that was still hanging over Trump as he prepared to take office, these loans weren't disclosed on any of the records that he willingly handed over to the OGE. 

The law states that federal officials don't need to disclose loans to their companies unless they're personally liable for them, and it's not clear whether Trump was personally responsible for the money he borrowed from L/P Daewoo. But the circumstances surrounding the loan have aroused suspicion among some, with reporters pointing out that L/P Daewoo has ties to North Korea.

Back in the 1990s, the conglomerate was one of the only South Korean businesses permitted to operate in the Hermit Kingdom – and during his presidency, Trump repeatedly came under fire for his close relationship with Kim Jong-un. More recently, it's been suggested that the documents the former POTUS took from the White House to Mar-a-Lago included "beautiful letters" from the North Korean leader. 

Adding to the mystery surrounding the loan, Allen Weisselberg (pictured) – the former CFO of the Trump Organization who was jailed for tax fraud on 10 January – told The New York Times in 2016 that Trump had publicly disclosed all the debts connected to companies in which he held a 100% stake. The recently obtained documents show this wasn't the case, though the former president was quick to settle the outstanding loan after taking office.

Between 2011 and 2016, Trump didn't pay back a cent of the $19.8 million. By 30 June 2017, however, he'd paid back all but $4.3 million. The documents later show that "Daewoo was bought out of its position on July 5, 2017."

Because it's not clear whether Trump was personally liable for the loan, it's unlikely he'll face any legal action for refusing to comply with the OGE just yet. Representatives from the OGE have added that the department doesn't have the means to investigate the financial dealings of incoming presidents, so most loans are reported according to an honor system. Walter Shaub, who ran the government agency when Trump entered the White House, said: "If someone does not disclose a loan, OGE has no way to know." 

Forbes lists Donald Trump's current net worth as $3.2 billion, down from a peak of $4.5 billion in 2016. But based on analysis of Trump's recently released 2020 tax returns, forensic accountants Mark Gottlieb and Bruce Dubinsky believe this figure isn't representative of the funds that Trump actually has at his disposal. The majority of Trump's reported net worth is likely made up of assets and interest payments he can't easily access, which Gottlieb describes as "phantom income."

"As phantom income, he can't touch it, feel it, smell it, or use it," Gottlieb told The Daily Beast.

The accountants have estimated that Trump's cash assets are probably between $30 million and $100 million. In 2020, according to Gottlieb: "The self-proclaimed billionaire only earned an actual income of around a million dollars. But for his wages as president and his dividends from those inaccessible partnerships, Trump's actual income that year was more like $500,000 or $600,000. Not a lot of money for a billionaire."

Now discover Donald Trump's long list of major lawsuits