President Donald Trump is openly using the White House to accept personal bribes, providing access and influence over his presidency. Two recent developments show Trump using his public office to take in millions for his own benefit.
The Trump family is offering a private dinner at the White House—which is owned by the American taxpayers—to the winner of an auction for their $TRUMP cryptocurrency. The auction, which will end on Monday, has attracted millions of dollars in bids from people hoping that handing off their money to Trump will give them access to his presidency.
So far, the Trump family and its partners have earned over $1.3 million from fees relating to trading of the currency. Trading spiked after the contest was announced. Of course, such a nakedly corrupt process likely breaks several securities laws, but Trump’s appointees are unlikely to investigate the corruption.
“This absolutely would have triggered an initial investigation,” a veteran enforcement attorney who worked at the Securities and Exchange Commission for 18 years told The New York Times.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has claimed that Trump is holding the event during his personal time—but the presidency is a 24/7 job, and Trump is supposed to be always representing the interests of the United States, not his bank account.
Democrats called for an ethics probe of Trump’s meme coin in April. Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said in a letter to the acting director of the Office of Government Ethics that the coin presents the risk that Trump was “engaging in ‘pay to play’ corruption.”
A 13-year-old private Boeing aircraft that President Donald Trump toured on Saturday to check out new hardware and technology features, and highlight the aircraft maker's delay in delivering updated versions of the Air Force One presidential aircraft, takes off from Palm Beach International Airport, Feb. 16, in Florida.
Trump is also reportedly set to receive the gift of an airplane from a foreign government, adding to his open corruption.
Qatar reportedly plans to give Trump a Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet, which will be handed off to him from the ruling family of that nation when he visits. ABC News reported that Trump plans to use the plane as Air Force One until January 2029, when the plane will be transferred to the foundation that is expected to build his presidential library.
The Qatari government said a final decision had not been made on the transfer but that it is under consideration.
“Trump must seek Congress’ consent to take this $300 million gift from Qatar,” Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland wrote on Sunday. “The Constitution is perfectly clear: no present ‘of any kind whatever’ from a foreign state without Congressional permission. A gift you use for four years and then deposit in your library is still a gift (and a grift).”
The emoluments clause of the Constitution prohibits gifts like this for federal officials as a way to prevent corruption.
Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York has written to the Government Accountability Office, the Office of Government Ethics, and the acting inspector general at the Department of Defense, requesting an ethics investigation into the plane gift.
In a post on Truth Social platform,Trump defended the planned gift while also verifying reports about it.
“So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane. Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!!” Trump wrote.
Trump has several ongoing investment projects in the Persian Gulf region, and his upcoming taxpayer-financed trip there will highlight his open disregard for traditional ethical separation between the office of the presidency and private business dealings.
The increasingly open corruption is a continuation of Trump’s behavior during his first stint in the White House. Back then, foreign governments, private companies, and members of the Republican Party spent lavishly at Trump’s hotel in Washington, D.C.—knowing it would provide access to Trump. (Trump has since sold the hotel, and Republican spending there dried up.)
Trump, who campaigned on the notion he would “drain” the swamp of Washington corruption, is one of the biggest and most notorious swamp creatures to ever thrive in the city.
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