See the Biden-era ‘DEI’ coins Bessent scrapped as Trump team restores patriotic 250th designs

FIRST ON FOX: Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent scrapped Biden-era coin designs intended to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s founding after the Trump administration discovered they did not feature a single Founding Father but instead emphasized diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) themes. 

“The new Semiquincentennial Quarter designs will celebrate American history and the founding of our great nation,” U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach told Fox News Digital Thursday. “While the Biden administration and Secretary Yellen remained focused on DEI and Critical Race Theory policies, the Trump administration is dedicated to fostering prosperity and patriotism. We have no doubt these new designs will be wildly popular with the American people.”

The U.S. Mint did not publicly release designs of the Biden-era quarter coins ahead of Bessent axing their planned rollout, with Fox News Digital obtaining exclusive images of all the quarters. 

Trump signed a law at the end of his first term authorizing the creation of up to five new quarters and a dollar coin to honor the 250th anniversary of America’s founding in July 2026, wj was spearheaded by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

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The committee approved five themes for the coins, including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, abolition, suffrage and civil rights, the Journal reported, which included some photos of the Biden-era coins, but not all five. 

The Treasury secretary has final sign-off on the coin designs. Former Secretary Janet Yellen approved the coins’ designs for 2026 before leaving office, according to the outlet. 

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Fox News Digital obtained images of the now-scrapped quarters, and found the one remembering the abolition of slavery showed arms locked in handcuffs while breaking the chains; while another quarter focused on women’s suffrage showed arms holding up a what appeared to be a concrete slab with the inscription “Liberty Equality Justice for Women” and “SUFFRAGE;” while the civil rights coin showed depictions of people linking arms with the inscription, “We shall overcome.” 

The quarter aimed to honor the Declaration of Independence showed the Liberty Bell, while the quarter honoring the Constitution depicted an allegorical Lady Liberty. 

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None of the coins from the Biden-era depicted a Founding Father, though one side of the abolition coin depicted 19th century civil rights leader Frederick Douglass. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office for comment on the coin change on Thursday evening. 

“We’re trying to be very sensitive to how people will interpret the themes and designs of the coins,” one of the members of the coin advisory panel told the Wall Street Journal of the previous designs. “They’re much more than just money. They’re things that kids are going to be looking at and grown-ups are going to be looking at.”

The 2021 law establishing the creation of the coins noted that the designs “must be emblematic of a woman’s or women’s contribution to the birth of the nation or the Declaration of Independence or any other monumental moments in American history.”

The Trump administration unveiled its version of the quarters Wednesday evening at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, which included a much more patriotic tone. 

One coin celebrated the Mayflower Compact showing a pilgrim couple embracing, one honoring the Revolutionary War with the depiction of a U.S. soldier, a coin celebrating the Declaration with a characterization of the Liberty Bell, and one honoring the U.S. Constitution with a depiction of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The Treasury also created a coin remembering the end of slavery, focusing on Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address with the inscription “A new nation, conceived in liberty” over a depiction of a person pulling another person from the arm. 

The new designs come after Trump systematically moved to remove DEI programs across the federal government, signing executive orders that directed federal agencies to identify and shut down DEI offices. Trump and conservatives have argued DEI practices promote group-based preferences and ideological conformity over individual merit, free speech and equal treatment. 

The coin change-up also comes as Democrat lawmakers work to thwart the Trump administration from rolling out $1 Trump coins depicting the president, which are also part of the administration’s widespread efforts to celebrate the nation’s semiquincentennial. 

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Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., introduced legislation earlier in December that would prohibit the federal government from minting currency that bears “the likeness of a living or sitting president.”

“While monarchs put their faces on coins, America has never had and never will have a king,” Cortez Masto said in a press release of the legislation. “Our legislation would codify this country’s long-standing tradition of not putting living Presidents on American coins. Congress must pass it without delay.”

The Treasury Department pointed to a law, USC 31 § 5112(y), which grants authority to redesign circulating coins for the semiquincentennial during 2026. 

“Senate Democrats are so triggered by the proposed coin celebrating our nation’s 250th anniversary that they are trying to recklessly change law to block it,” Beach said of the legislation. “The American people deserve a commemorative coin celebrating our great nation. While Senate Democrats continue to maintain self-serving motives, the Trump Administration is delivering prosperity and patriotism.”

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.