Donald Trump is both the current President and a former President: does that mean he gets paid both his salary and pension? Facts only please, no politics.
I’m not a lawyer or an accountant but my understanding is former Presidents can receive a pension after they leave office. As Trump is not currently a former President, I think he’s not eligible for the pension.
According to the Former Presidents Act, no
a) Each former President shall be entitled for the remainder of his life to receive from the United States a monetary allowance at a rate per annum, payable monthly by the Secretary of the Treasury, which is equal to the annual rate of basic pay, as in effect from time to time, of the head of an executive department, as defined in section 101 of title 5, United States Code [section 101 of Title 5]. However, such allowance shall not be paid for any period during which such former President holds an appointive or elective office or position in or under the Federal Government or the government of the District of Columbia to which is attached a rate of pay other than a nominal rate.
Thank you! I have my answer. This thread can be closed now before it goes off track.
We generally don’t close threads unless they pose a problem, but with any luck this will now just disappear.
Isn’t he? He’s the former 45th President, as well as the current 47th President.
When he leaves office, will he get a double pension? One from each administration?
See @doreen’s informative answer above.
I already read that, and I don’t see an answer to my question.
Here is the full act:
Nothing to indicating having a split term would authorize them to a double pension.
Focus on this sentence, in which “such allowance” refers to the pension:
Former president Trump currently “holds an … elective office . . . in . . . the Federal Government . . . to which is attached a rate of pay other than a nominal rate,” and therefore, “such an allowance shall not be paid.”
As for “double pension,” there’s no law for that. The only law for the pension is, again:
He’s not two former presidents, despite serving two terms. Obama, Bush, Clinton don’t receive a double pension, so there’s no reason he would, either.
That sentence has nothing to do with my question. It says that the payment stops while he is in office. It doesn’t say that the payment stops forever.
The point is that he has served two non-consecutive administrations. Hr was the 45th President and is now the 47th President. Obama, Bush, Clinton each were only one administration. There is a difference.
“Each former President shall be entitled for the remainder of his life to receive from the United States a monetary allowance …”
So, the 45th President gets a monetary allowance , and 47th President gets a monetary allowance , maybe?
Note, IANAL, I’m not claiming this is true, I’m asking if it’s true.
You’re really trying very hard to find a way that would say “oh, he’s two different presidents, so he would get two pensions.”
The fact that Trump has non-consecutive terms doesn’t change the fact that he’s one person. If you work at a job anywhere else, where you’re entitled to a pension, leave, and come back, it doesn’t let you double-dip, and there’s nothing in any of those cites that says otherwise for the President.
“Each former president” refers to a person, not to an administration. Trump is one person, not two people. He was president twice, not two people who were president.
I think that being a former President and the current President are mutually exclusive titles. Whoever is the current President is, by definition, not a former President.
The law explicitly says this: “The term “former President” means a person who does not then currently hold such office.”
No. There is a single pension that applies to all former Presidents (who held office after 1958) regardless of whether they served a partial term, single term, two consecutive terms, or two non-consecutive terms. The only disqualification is if they are removed from office via impeachment.