India, July 6 -- US President Donald Trump on Wednesday attempted to justify the more than $1.4 billion he earned last year from cryptocurrency ventures by invoking an anecdote about George Washington that historians say is not true, telling reporters the first president of the United States kept separate desks for government work and private business while in office.

The remarks came days after Trump's mandatory annual financial disclosure, filed with the US Office of Government Ethics, revealed that digital assets had become the single largest source of his personal income during his second term, eclipsing earnings from real estate and licensing deals that once defined his portfolio.

Disclosure Depicts Crypto Dwarfing Traditional Inco...