Government corruption under the Trump/Musk regime is blatant and pervasive. In this post, I’ve organized the reports in four sections, with a final note from Dan Froomkin on the failure of the media to loudly and repeatedly callout the criminal corruption of the Trump/Musk regime.
- Profiteering on the Presidency
- Influence Peddling
- More Money for Musk
- Good for Trump Donors, Bad for the Country
- Say It Out Loud: This is Criminal
Profiteering on the Presidency
Trump’s memecoin business offered a private dinner with the president to the 220 biggest investors in his $TRUMP cryptocurrency. The announcement triggered a 60% increase in the value of his memecoin. Trump profits personally from sales of the memecoin.
[New York Times] “In an astonishing escalation of the Trump family’s efforts to profit from crypto, a website promoting $TRUMP, the president’s so-called memecoin, announced on Wednesday that the coin’s largest buyers would be invited to meet him. The effort was, in effect, an offer of access to the White House in exchange for an investment in one of Mr. Trump’s crypto ventures.
“’Have Dinner with President Trump and the $TRUMP Community!’ the invitation said. ‘Let the President know how many $TRUMP coins YOU own!’
“For months, Mr. Trump’s forays into crypto have created ethical conflicts with little precedent in presidential history. As he markets digital currencies to the public, Mr. Trump has also appointed regulators who are scaling back crypto enforcement and called for legislation that would boost the industry’s prospects in the United States. …
“As president, Mr. Trump has broad immunity from laws governing conflicts of interest, a loophole he has pointed out in the past.”
[Popular Information] “President Trump has invited virtually anyone, including foreign governments, government contractors, and people under federal criminal investigation, to compete to see who can personally enrich Trump the most. The winners will get a personal audience with Trump on May 22 — and potentially a ‘VIP White House Tour.’
“It is a brazenly corrupt scheme to profit from the presidency.
“The contest involves $TRUMP, the crypto meme coin that Trump launched shortly before his inauguration. Last week, “Trump announced that the top 220 holders of $TRUMP will be invited to have dinner with him at his private golf club near DC. According to the promotional materials, Trump will discuss policy issues at the dinner, including ‘the future of crypto.'”
Selling the memecoin generates profit. But that’s not all. Each sale generates a fee that goes to two other Trump-affiliated businesses.
[Wired] “However, for the two organizations that own 80 percent of the coin’s supply—CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC, offshoots of a conglomerate owned by Trump—the market price was a secondary concern. In the immediate term, those firms profit primarily based on how frequently people trade it. …
“Trump-affiliated entities have reportedly earned tens of millions of dollars in trading fees in connection with the TRUMP coin. In the 24 hours following the dinner announcement, $1.6 million in fees were collected by contributors to the TRUMP liquidity pool on Meteora, the exchange through which the token was originally launched. Most of that money will have accrued to CIC Digital and Fight Fight Fight as the largest contributors to the pool, based on previous reports.”
Influence Peddling
Trump family members and supporters launched a private club called the “Executive Branch.” Joining costs half a million dollars, and is by invitation only.
“The club — with Donald Trump Jr. as a lead investor, and membership tightly screened for loyalty to President Trump — will be a sumptuous retreat for rubbing shoulders with cabinet members and West Wing officials, with no danger of running into reporters or Democrats.
“Besides Don Jr., the owners are financier Omeed Malik; Chris Buskirk, of 1789 Capital, who’s close to Vice President Vance; and Alex Witkoff and Zach Witkoff, sons of real estate developer Steve Witkoff, the president’s close friend and Middle East envoy.” https://www.axios.com/2025/04/28/magas-coming-clubhouse-executive-branch
“Founding members include David Sacks, White House A.I. and crypto czar, and co-star of the “All-In” podcast; his “All-In” colleague Chamath Palihapitiya; superlobbyist Jeff Miller; and the Winklevoss twins, who are co-founders of a crypto platform.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke to a closed-door investor summit on April 22, and told them that tariffs with China will soon be “de-escalated.” Paul Krugman has a few things to say about that.
[Paul Krugman] “First — and why aren’t more people saying this? — what the hell was the Treasury secretary doing giving a closed-door briefing on a significant policy change that hadn’t yet been officially announced? Isn’t that a setup for large-scale insider trading? Indeed, attendees at that conference surely made market bets before Bessent’s remarks became public.
“And since when are major policy announcements by government officials made off the record to closed private-sector meetings? One even wonders whether Bessent was announcing policy or making it: Did Trump back him up only after the fact?
“The content of his remarks aside, what was Bessent even doing at this event? Senior government officials aren’t supposed to be helping investment banks entertain their clients.”
This is small potatoes compared to the memecoin or Musk messes, but the presidential pardon of Michele Fiori is one more indicator of corrupt rewards for Trump supporters.
[AP] “President Donald Trump has pardoned a Nevada Republican politician who was awaiting sentencing on federal charges that she used money meant for a statue honoring a slain police officer for personal costs, including plastic surgery. …
“Federal prosecutors said at trial that Fiore, 54, had raised more than $70,000 for the statue of a Las Vegas police officer who was fatally shot in 2014 in the line of duty, but had instead spent some of it on cosmetic surgery, rent and her daughter’s wedding. …
“Fiore, who does not have a law degree, was appointed as a judge in deep-red Nye County in 2022 shortly after she lost her campaign for state treasurer.
“In her statement Thursday, Fiore also said she plans to return to the bench next week.”
More Money for Musk
Elon Musk and DOGE already have crippled some regulatory agencies with pending cases against Musk and his businesses. More will come, including dismissal of criminal cases. The result: Musk escapes billions in liability.
[Musk Watch] “Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) released a memorandum on Monday morning that quantifies the amount of money in civil and criminal penalties Elon Musk and his companies could avoid thanks to Musk’s influence in the Trump administration. Musk, a senior advisor to President Trump and the leader of the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and his companies face ‘at least 65 actual or potential actions by 11 different federal agencies,’ according to the memo. The memo estimates that, with Trump’s help, Musk’s companies could avoid at least $2.37 billion in liabilities.
“The estimate is based on the potential financial liabilities associated with 40 of those actions. Blumenthal and his staff were unable to provide a financial estimate for the remaining 25 matters, including ‘multiple investigations with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ranging from unexpected braking or acceleration, to steering wheel detachment, to crash reports involving Tesla’s autonomous driving technology.’ In other words, $2.37 billion is a conservative estimate.”
Did you know that Elon Musk is a small business owner, eligible for government contracts set aside for small businesses?
[Musk Watch] “Not long after Donald Trump won the 2024 election, Elon Musk’s $7 billion tunneling company registered as a small business on a government portal for federal contractors. The Boring Company registered with the System for Award Management portal, better known as SAM.gov, on November 12, 2024, exactly one week after Trump’s victory. …
“In 2018, Musk spun off Boring, making it a privately held company that has largely served to promote his car manufacturer, Tesla. …
“Boring is also registered as a small business in its home state of Texas, per a filing from a state environmental regulator that fined the company $11,876 for the unauthorized discharge of industrial waste and other violations. …
“In other words, a company owned by a man estimated to be the richest in the world could potentially use this designation to win federal contracts meant for small businesses. This is the case despite Boring having raised huge sums of cash, including a 2022 fundraising round in which it raised $675 million from nine investors, including Sequoia Capital and Vy Capital.”
Good for Trump Donors, Bad for the Country
Robert Reich notes on BlueSky: “The USDA has withdrawn a plan to impose stronger safety regulations limiting salmonella levels in raw poultry. Who was the biggest donor to Trump’s inauguration fund? Pilgrim’s Pride — one of the largest chicken processors in the country. See how this works?”
Trump’s tariff policies exempt more than a thousand specific products. No surprise: the exemptions enrich Trump allies.
[Pro Publica] “One item that made the list is polyethylene terephthalate, more commonly known as PET resin, the thermoplastic used to make plastic bottles.
“Why it was spared is unclear, and even people in the industry are confused about the reason for the reprieve.
“But its inclusion is a win for Reyes Holdings, a Coca-Cola bottler that ranks among the largest privately held companies in the U.S. and is owned by a pair of brothers who have donated millions of dollars to Republican causes. Records show the company recently hired a lobbying firm with close ties to the Trump White House to make its case on tariffs. …
“Tariff rates have been altered without any clear explanation for the changes. Administration officials have given conflicting messages about the tariffs or declined to answer questions at all.
“The lack of transparency about the process has created concerns among trade experts that politically connected firms might be winning carve-outs behind closed doors.
“’It could be corruption, but it could just as easily be incompetence,’ a lobbyist who works on tariff policy said of PET resin’s inclusion.“
Say It Out Loud: This is Criminal
Dan Froomkin argues that the media should be covering the Trump administration as a criminal enterprise. That’s a strong argument—in addition to the cases of illegality that he cites, dozens of stories of corruption and financial shenanigans need wide coverage.
[Press Watch] “Many of the major actions Donald Trump has taken as president have one thing in common: They’re flatly illegal….
“Cutting congressionally-mandated departments? Illegal. Firing federal workers without cause? Illegal. Kidnapping people off the streets and sending them to torture prisons without due process? Illegal. Asserting emergency powers to raise tariffs? Illegal. Siccing the IRS on political enemies? Illegal. Extorting research universities because they respect diversity? Illegal. Denying government access to law firms he doesn’t like? Illegal. Violating court orders? Illegal.
“I could go on.
“The obvious conclusion is that the Trump/Musk regime is a criminal enterprise. Therefore, everything it does should be covered in that context. …
“[W]hen journalists uncover examples of blatant illegality, they shouldn’t be coy about it – they should shout it out. …
“When the president clearly violates the law, how will the public know if the media doesn’t tell them?”
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Mary Turck