President Donald Trump’s promised $5,000 “dividend” for all U.S.adults would not be paid for with taxpayer dollars, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday.“It’s not tax money,” Lutnick told NBC News in a wide-ranging interview at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, where he discussed the attacks and a variety of economic issues.He claimed that the administration could “earn the money that Donald Trump wants to pay out, not from the deficit, and not from taxpayers.”Trump this week pledged that if Republicans held control of the House and Senate in November’s midterm elections, his administration would issue a “dividend” to all American adults as a reward.“Together we’re going to deliver that plan and we’re going to pay that money to the Americans, and not from taxpayer money,” Lutnick said.He referenced the Trump Platinum Card, an upcoming Commerce Department program that allows wealthy individuals to sign up to pay $5 million in order to extend their U.S.
visas for an additional 270 days.“We have a waitlist of more than 100,000 people who want to come,” said Lutnick.“That’s $500 billion dollars.”Lutnick also cited an investment in Intel the administration made last year.
“Everybody knows we got just about 500 million shares, and the stock was $20, and now it’s $100, so we’re up $50 billion.” The administration spent $8.9 billion from appropriated CHIPS Act funds to make the investment in Intel.While the stock has appreciated from the government’s purchase price of $20.47 to $100.32 as of Thursday, the administration has not sold those shares — meaning the gain is merely on paper.Other Trump administration officials have offered different explanations for where the promised $5,000 checks would come from.On Friday, national economic council director Kevin Hassett told Bloomberg Television that the White House was considering a “reconciliation process” in Congress to fund the promised checks.
Initial estim...