*The definition of Corruption – Transparency Int’l
The Trump administration has exhibited many corrupt practices in the 5+ years he has been the President, but particularly in his second term. Some examples from the independent media are listed below. This link provides fuller explanations of these examples, plus references.
Reducing Oversight
One of the first steps corrupt administrations do is weaken or eliminate oversight, making it easier to evade accountability. Soon after taking office:
- Trump fired 17 Inspectors General (IGs) – the independent “watchdogs” of federal agencies
- He’s fired officials from Federal Reserve, Product Safety Comm, FTC, NLRB, among others.
- He has illegally defunded the council of IGs and left 28 IG offices without confirmed leadership.
- Trump ended the registry that was established to fight money laundering (Congress set it up in 2021, over Trump’s veto) and destroyed all the data it has already collected.
Trump made over $1 billion in 2025 off his cryptocurrency business
This included $635M in royalties off the $TRUMP memecoin plus $500M from World Liberty Financial (of which he is a founder), largely off of trading fees associated with the cryptotokens WLF1 and USD1.
Accepting Gifts from Foreign Governments in return for favors
- Qatar gave Trump a 747, then got new defense contracts. This gift will end up costing taxpayers $1B.
- UAE bought $2B in cryptocurrency from WLF, then got to buy tens of thousands of advanced AI chips.
“Pay to Play”
Donors and friends of the President get contracts and tariff relief
The following people or companies donated to Trump’s inauguration, ballroom or political campaign.
- GEO Group, (an ICE contractor) received a $1.2B contract
- More than half of the corporate donors to Trump’s ballroom have been awarded new or increased government contracts worth more than $50B
- Barnard Construction received over $5.6B in contracts to build the border wall.
- Apple Computer was exempt from Trump’s tariffs on semiconductors after CEO Tim Cook donated $1M to Trump’s inauguration plus some gifts.
- Trump lowered Switzerland’s tariffs from 39% to 15% after Swiss officials presented Trump with a personalized gold bar worth $130,000 and a Rolex desk clock.
- NEW! – The SEC is planning to strip a rule barring private equity officials from engaging in “pay-to-play” schemes with government officials.
Trump issues pardons or dismisses legal action after being paid
The following people or companies donated to Trump’s inauguration fund, political committees or fund raisers
- SEC paused fraud case against Justin Sun, a crypto billionaire who bought $75M in crypto tokens from Trump’s World Liberty Financial (WLF)
- Seventeen federal enforcement actions and investigations against companies that donated to Trump’s inauguration have been halted or dismissed
- Utah billionaire Trevor Milton was granted a full pardon for his $700M securities and wire fraud convictions
- Paul Walczak was ordered to pay $4.4M for stealing employees’ tax payments before Trump pardoned him.
- “Across both of his terms, Mr. Trump has granted clemency to more than 70 allies, donors, and others convicted in fraud cases”, according to the New York Times.
- DoJ dropped $4M fine (for the use of a toxic disinfectant) against the GEO Group
- Cases against 17 corporations facing federal investigations or enforcement lawsuits have been dismissed, withdrawn or halted
- 16 of the 27 corporate donors to Trump’s ballroom were in line for antitrust, labor or SEC investigations. Many cases were dropped, scaled back or paused by the administration
Extortion / Coercion
Major companies paying Trump to settle flimsy lawsuits
- Paramount – $16M to settle lawsuit against 60 minutes that experts widely say was baseless.
- Meta – $25M to settle lawsuit when Trump’s Facebook account was suspended after Jan 6 riot.
- X – $10M to settle lawsuit against Twitter for banning Trump’s account after Jan 6 riot
Major law firms provide Trump almost $1B in free legal services rather than fight exec orders
Trump targeted law firms that had represented or employed his critics. He threatened to terminate federal contracts, restrict them from federal buildings or bar their interaction with federal employees.
In response, major law firms pledged $940M in pro bono services for causes Trump has approved. Paul, Weiss was first to capitulate, paying $40M. Then, another eight firms paid over $100M each.
Profiting off of Policy Announcements
Trump is charging money ($100,000 per month) for companies / people to get his Truth Social posts early. Reportedly, 10 customers have signed up for this service. (ABC News)
Trump files administrative claims against DoJ for $230M for investigations against him
- He alleges violations of civil rights during the investigation into Russian election tampering and the search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
- Since Trump controls the Justice Dept. his people will be deciding whether he is guilty, making this perhaps the most blatant case of conflict of interest corruption.
So how do you feel after going through all these examples of Trump’s actions? What does it say about a country that has been the example of ethical democracy since its independence, and then elects this person president? What would the founders of our country think? What would they do? What should we do?