* The definition of Corruption – Transparency Int’l
This administration has exhibited many corrupt practices in the 5+ years Trump 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 with oversight 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
- He ended the registry established to fight money laundering and destroyed the data it’s already collected
Trump made over $1 billion in 2025 off his cryptocurrency business
- $635M in royalties off the $TRUMP memecoin
- $500M from World Liberty Financial (Trump’s a founder of ‘WLF’) – largely from crypto token trading fees
Accepting Gifts from Foreign Governments in return for favors
- Qatar gave Trump a 747, then got new defense contracts. This ‘gift’ will cost taxpayers $1B
- UAE bought $2B in cryptocurrency from WLF, then got to buy tens of 1000s of advanced AI chips
“Pay to Play”
Donors and friends pay the President and then 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
- Over half of corporate donors to Trump’s ballroom have received new or increased gov’t contracts
- Barnard Construction received over $5.6B in contracts to build the border wall.
- Apple Computer was exempted from Trump’s semiconductor tariffs after CEO Tim Cook donated $1M+
- Switzerland’s tariffs went from 39% to 15% after donating a personalized gold bar ($130,000) and gifts
- NEW! – The SEC is planning to strip a rule barring private equity officials from engaging in “pay-to-play” schemes with government officials.
Trump gets paid and then issues pardons or dismisses pending legal action
The following people or companies donated to Trump’s inauguration fund, political committees or fund raisers:
- Crypto billionaire Justin Sun bought $75M in crypto tokens from WLF, then SEC paused his fraud case
- 17 corporations donated $50M then had enforcement actions and investigations halted or dismissed
- Trump donor Trevor Milton was granted a full pardon for his $700M securities and fraud convictions
- Paul Walczak was ordered to pay $4.4M for stealing employees’ tax payments before Trump pardoned him.
- Trump has granted clemency to more than 70 allies, donors, and others convicted in fraud cases
- DoJ dropped $4M fine (for the use of a toxic disinfectant) against the GEO Group
Extortion / Coercion
Major companies paying Trump to settle flimsy lawsuits
- Paramount paid $16M to settle lawsuit against “60 Minutes” that experts widely say was baseless
- Meta paid $25M to settle lawsuit when Trump’s Facebook account was suspended after Jan 6 riot
- X paid $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 seeing all these examples of Trump’s actions? What does it say about a country that has been all about 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?