Overview
- During a televised Cabinet session Thursday, President Trump held up a custom black-and-gold Sharpie and delivered a roughly five-minute account of how it became his preferred pen.
- He said $1,000 ballpoint pens used for bill signings failed at key moments and that he arranged custom Sharpies for about $5 each to cut costs.
- Newell Brands, the Atlanta-based owner of Sharpie, later said it had no information about the specific call or deal Trump described.
- The detour came as top officials briefed on the war with Iran, long airport security lines, rising oil prices, and skittish markets, and it ended with Trump giving one of the pens to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
- Coverage noted side ripples, with USA Today reporting a brief bump in Newell’s stock and Mediaite reporting Trump called Fed Chair Jerome Powell “a moron,” while the moment also revived memories of first-term “Sharpiegate.”