corruption

Research Exposes Trump Inaugural Committee as ‘Cesspool of Special Interest Financing’

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Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), President-elect Donald Trump, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and Vice President-elect JD Vance attend the Army-Navy football game at Northwest Stadium on December 14, 2024 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“The record-shattering abuses of the 2025 Trump-Vance Presidential Inaugural Committee, Inc. should signal the immediate need for legislation to prevent this influence peddling,” said one ethics expert.

With Inauguration Day less than a week away, a watchdog group on Tuesday published research shining light on the unprecedented level of financial support President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund has received from corporations and executives seeking to court favor with the incoming administration.

The new research from Public Citizen includes a tracker that lists known corporate donations or pledged contributions to Trump’s inaugural committee, which is tax-exempt and not subject to contribution limits.

Amazon, Apple, Chevron, Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Google, Meta, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the pharmaceutical lobby, Pfizer, Microsoft, and Coinbase are among those that have pumped money into Trump’s inaugural fund, which has raked in a record-shattering $150 million since Election Day—and could bring in over $200 million by January 20.

“These million-dollar donors come from a small class of very wealthy industries in Big Tech, cryptocurrency, government contractors, and others with lucrative contracts or business pending before the federal government,” Public Citizen found. “Some of the biggest donors had long been critics of Trump, especially following the January 6 Insurrection by Trump supporters, and who are now fearful of retributions by a vengeful president.”

Some of the companies that have donated to the inaugural fund are also facing federal investigations, amplifying suspicions that the contributions were made with the goal of receiving favorable treatment from the next administration.

“The record-breaking cesspool of special interest financing for the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee raises serious concerns about the ability of corporations and wealthy special interests to purchase influence over public policy or lucrative government contracts,” Craig Holman, a government ethics expert at Public Citizen, said in a statement Tuesday.“The record-shattering abuses of the 2025 Trump-Vance Presidential Inaugural Committee, Inc. should signal the immediate need for legislation to prevent this influence peddling.”

“The possibility for corruption exists any time an officeholder accepts large donations from those who have business pending before the official.”

Trump’s inaugural fund has easily surpassed the then-record-setting $107 million he raised for his inauguration in 2017, The New York Times reported earlier this month. On Monday, the Times reported that “Harold G. Hamm, the billionaire oil and gas executive who helped bankroll Donald J. Trump’s campaign and stands to profit from his energy policies, is hosting an exclusive fossil fuel industry celebration on Inauguration Day.”

“Among the invited guests to Mr. Hamm’s celebration is Doug Burgum, Mr. Trump’s pick to run the Interior Department,” according to the newspaper.

The president-elect has openly boasted that prominent figures in corporate America—from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg—have lined up to show support for his second administration, which is set to be packed with billionaires and others with close business ties. Trump is reportedly keeping close track of major companies that have yet to donate to his inaugural fund.

Public Citizen noted Tuesday that “while the self-serving motivations of inaugural donors has a long and troubling precedent, the scope of donations and, in many cases, the fear of retribution driving the donations to the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee represents a worrying shift.”

“Buying access to the president and the president’s inner circle is the name of the game,” the group says in its new research brief. “For corporations and wealthy special interests attempting to influence public policy or secure lucrative government contracts, writing big checks to Trump’s inaugural committee—or any presidential inaugural committee—provides a bonanza of access to leading government officials and influence over public policy. This is a level of influence peddling only available to those who can afford to pay the price and is denied to those who are not wealthy.”

To “ensure that undue influence-peddling through Inaugural donations is mitigated,” Public Citizen called on lawmakers to pass legislation banning corporate and lobbyist donations to inaugural funds, implementing contribution limits, and strengthening disclosure requirements, among other reforms.

“The possibility for corruption exists any time an officeholder accepts large donations from those who have business pending before the official,” Public Citizen said. “Congress should end the double standard for presidential inauguration fundraising. The celebration of an election victory should be viewed as part and parcel of the process of selecting our president.”

Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue ReadingResearch Exposes Trump Inaugural Committee as ‘Cesspool of Special Interest Financing’

Crypto Billionaire Trump Already ‘Cashing In On the Presidency’ With Meme Coin

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Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

A smartphone displays a post from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Truth account announcing the $TRUMP meme coin on January 19, 2025. (Photo: Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“We now have a president-elect who, the weekend before inauguration, is launching new businesses along with promises to deregulate… those sectors in a way to just blatantly profit off his own presidency.”

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump faced a flood of criticism throughout the weekend for launching a cryptocurrency token as the world prepared for his Monday inauguration and policies expected to benefit the industry that helped Republicans take control of the White House and Congress.

“It is literally cashing in on the presidency—creating a financial instrument so people can transfer money to the president’s family in connection with his office,” Campaign Legal Center executive director Adav Noti told The New York Times. “It is beyond unprecedented.”

Jordan Libowitz, vice president for communications at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, also contrasted Trump’s move with behaviors of past presidents, telling Politico, “It is absolutely wild.”

“After decades of seeing presidents-elect spend the time leading up to inauguration separating themselves from their finances to show that they don’t have any conflicts of interest, we now have a president-elect who, the weekend before inauguration, is launching new businesses along with promises to deregulate… those sectors in a way to just blatantly profit off his own presidency,” said Libowitz.

https://twitter.com/whstancil/status/1881005512747352434?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1881005512747352434%7Ctwgr%5E5d0187f964e4802a668c879d924cde5449ffac86%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Ftrump-crypto

The president-elected announced the $TRUMP meme coin, hosted on the Solana blockchain, via his Truth social media platform and X—owned by Elon Musk, his ally and the richest person on the planet—on Friday, declaring that “it’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING!”

He linked to a website that explains “there are 200 million $TRUMP available on day one and will grow to a total of 1 billion $TRUMP over three years.” It also states that “Trump Memes are intended to function as an expression of support for, and engagement with, the ideals and beliefs embodied by the symbol ‘$TRUMP’ and the associated artwork, and are not intended to be, or to be the subject of, an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type.”

Forbes reported that “the remaining 80% of tokens that have yet to be publicly released are owned by the Trump Organization affiliate CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC, a company formed in Delaware on January 7, according to state filings, and both companies will receive an undisclosed amount of revenue derived from trading activity.”

The president-elect’s son Eric Trump, who helps run Trump Organization, told the Times that “this is just the beginning.”

“I am extremely proud of what we continue to accomplish in crypto,” he said in a statement. “$TRUMP is currently the hottest digital meme on Earth.”

In an article simply headlined, “Donald Trump, crypto billionaire,” Axios noted that by Sunday morning, “Trump’s crypto holdings were worth as much as $58 billion on paper, enough—with his other assets—to make him one of the world’s 25 richest people.”

https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan/status/1881043436226171104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1881043436226171104%7Ctwgr%5E5d0187f964e4802a668c879d924cde5449ffac86%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Ftrump-crypto

Responding to Axios‘ report, Wa’el Alzayat, who served as a Middle East policy expert at the U.S. Department of State for a decade, said that “when I was in government I couldn’t accept a lunch over $20. Now anyone can give our next president millions.”

Predicting that “this is going to end VERY badly for everyone except Donald Trump and his cronies,” journalist Jeff St. John said that “it is a scandal and an outrage.”

The meme coin announcement came as “the elite of the crypto world” gathered in Washington, D.C. for the first-ever Crypto Ball.

The president-elect did not attend the event, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and the nominees for commerce and treasury secretary, Howard Lutnick and Scott Bessent, were there. Reporting on the gala, Reuters pointed out that the Trump “courted crypto campaign cash with promises to be a ‘crypto president,’ and is expected next week to issue executive orders aimed at reducing crypto regulatory roadblocks and promoting widespread adoption of digital assets.”

Trump is no stranger to ethics scandals. As Mother Jones detailed:

The meme coin is just the latest in a bizarre line of grifty, super-weird takes on “merch.” Last February, Trump showed off gold “Never Surrender High-Tops” for $399 at Sneaker Con, which had Fox News applauding his appeal to Black voters. In March, he began endorsing the $59.99 “God Bless the USA Bible,” which includes the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and handwritten lyrics to the chorus of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” (Trump’s inaugural committee has confirmed that he will not be using one of these Bibles to swear the presidential oath of office on Monday.) In August, Trump released a new round of his “baseball card” NFTs.

S.V. Dáte, a senior White House correspondent at HuffPost, highlighted Sunday that during the Republican’s first term, “Trump’s D.C. hotel was a convenient way for foreign and domestic lobbyists to put cash directly into his pocket.”

“This crypto thing is next level. Anyone on the planet can put money directly into his pocket. Huge,” Dáte added. “The efficiency here is a thing of beauty. With a hotel, you have all the costs of owning the property as well as paying cleaning staff, front desk staff, and so on. This selling of fake money is almost pure profit.”

The Trump Organization sold the D.C. hotel in 2022, but The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that his “real estate company is in talks to reclaim” the property.

Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue ReadingCrypto Billionaire Trump Already ‘Cashing In On the Presidency’ With Meme Coin

Trump Offers Key Pentagon Job to Billionaire Whose Firm Trained Khashoggi’s Murderers

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Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Stephen Feinberg is pictured at the U.S. Capitol on December 11, 2008. (Photo: Jahi Chikwendiu/The The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Stephen Feinberg is co-CEO of Cerberus Capital Management, which owns a company that provided training to members of the hit squad that murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly offered the number-two Pentagon job to a secretive billionaire investor with close ties to the military-industrial complex, potentially introducing additional conflicts of interest to an incoming administration that is set to be rife with corporate executives and lobbyists.

Stephen Feinberg is co-founder and co-CEO of the private equity behemoth Cerberus Capital Management, which owns a firm that provided paramilitary training to members of the elite team that murdered Saudi journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Trump drew global outrage for publicly defending the Saudi regime in the wake of the assassination, even after U.S. intelligence agencies established that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman authorized Khashoggi’s murder.

The New York Times reported in 2021 that four Saudis who took part in the 2018 Khashoggi assassination “received paramilitary training in the United States the previous year under a contract approved by the State Department.” Tier 1 Group, an Arkansas-based company financed by Cerberus, provided the training.

“The instruction occurred as the secret unit responsible for Mr. Khashoggi’s killing was beginning an extensive campaign of kidnapping, detention, and torture of Saudi citizens ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, to crush dissent inside the kingdom,” the Times noted.

“Having this revolving door of people who sit on boards of major defense contractors and then cycle in and out of the Pentagon is a problem that did not begin with Trump, but is a problem nonetheless.”

It’s not yet clear whether Feinberg intends to accept Trump’s offer to serve as deputy defense secretary, but news of the choice prompted speculation that Feinberg could be elevated to the top Pentagon spot as Fox News host Pete Hegseth—the president-elect’s nominee for the role—faces skepticism from senators amid new details of the sexual assault allegations against him. (Update: The Times reported Wednesday morning that Trump’s support for Hegseth is “wobbling” and he is “openly discussing other people for the job, including Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.”)

Citing an unnamed person familiar with his thinking, Politicoreported that Feinberg is expected to accept the job offer for deputy defense secretary. Feinberg would also have to be confirmed by the Senate.

The Washington Post, which first reported Trump’s offer on Tuesday, noted that the private equity billionaire is a major donor to the president-elect and has “investments in defense companies that maintain lucrative Pentagon contracts.” The Post observed that Cerberus “has invested in hypersonic missiles” and “previously owned the private military contractor DynCorp.”

Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy and a former foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), told the Post that “having this revolving door of people who sit on boards of major defense contractors and then cycle in and out of the Pentagon is a problem that did not begin with Trump, but is a problem nonetheless.”

“Is he going to be listening to a whole range of constituencies or primarily business constituencies?” Duss asked of Feinberg.

If he accepts the president-elect’s offer, Feinberg would join a number of conflict-of-interest-ridden nominees for high-level positions in the incoming Trump administration.

Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, characterized Trump’s Cabinet picks so far as “chaotic evil” and warned that their conflicts of interest could bring horrible consequences for the American public.

“Corruption is not only bad in and of itself,” Hauser told the Institute for Public Accuracy on Tuesday. “It’s also a bad thing that makes other terrible things more likely to happen. If you corrupt the enforcement of environmental protection laws, people will be poisoned by the water they drink and air they breathe. If you corrupt the Department of Labor, workplace safety will collapse over time and wage protections will disappear.”

“That’s what happened under the last Trump administration. This is going to be worse,” Hauser warned. “Food safety issues, automobile safety with driverless cars, rail safety—these are all risks that the Trump team will be taking with the lives of ordinary people.”

Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Continue ReadingTrump Offers Key Pentagon Job to Billionaire Whose Firm Trained Khashoggi’s Murderers

Three quarters of Britons say it’s unacceptable for the Prime Minister to accept gifts from businesses or organisations

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https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/three-quarters-britons-say-its-unacceptable-prime-minister-accept-gifts-businesses-or-organisations

New research from Ipsos assesses whether the public believes that the Prime Minister and MPs earn too much money, and how the public perceives the acceptability of gifts offered to the PM

  • Three quarters (75%) of Britons say that it is rarely or never acceptable for the Prime Minister to accept gifts from businesses or organisations.
  • More than two-thirds say the same about accepting gifts from private individuals (68%).

New research from Ipsos, carried out 20-23 September, has assessed whether the public believes that the Prime Minister and Members of Parliament (MPs) earn too much money, and how the public perceives the acceptability of gifts offered to the Prime Minister.  

…

[R]espondents were asked for their views on whether it is acceptable for the Prime Minister to accept gifts from a range of sources. Three quarters (75%) of Britons say that it is rarely or never acceptable for the Prime Minister to accept a gift from businesses or organisations. 68% say it rarely or never acceptable for the Prime Minister to accept gifts from private individuals, and 57% say the same regarding gifts from the governments of other countries (though 36% say this is usually or always acceptable). If we take out the proportion that say ‘rarely acceptable’ we find that 48% say it is ‘never acceptable’ to accept gifts from businesses / organisations, 43% say it is never acceptable to accept gifts from private individuals and 32% say it is never acceptable to accept gifts from governments of other countries.

…

https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/three-quarters-britons-say-its-unacceptable-prime-minister-accept-gifts-businesses-or-organisations

Continue ReadingThree quarters of Britons say it’s unacceptable for the Prime Minister to accept gifts from businesses or organisations

Labour just gave a TOP government JOB to someone from its £4m hedge fund donor, Quadrature

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Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the "hard times".
Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the “hard times”.

https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2024/09/25/labour-quadrature-rachel-kyte

As predictable as night following day, there WAS some backscratching involved in the £4m donation the Labour Party got from offshore tax-registered hedge fund Quadrature. The pay off? The co-chair of a board of its charitable foundation arm – Rachel Kyte – is now the UK government’s climate envoy.

Thanks to openDemocracy doing the journalism the corporate media consistently fail to, we now know that the Labour Party accepted a huge donation just after Rishi Sunak called July’s general election from Quadrature Capital.

We also know that the company behind it invest themselves in the worst of the worst. However, for a final sting in the tail, look no further than what this hedge fund does with some of the cash it makes.

Labour Party: £4m in slush funding…?

As openDemocracy revealed:

The Labour Party’s largest-ever donation came from a Cayman Islands-registered hedge fund with shares worth hundreds of millions of pounds in fossil fuels, private health firms, arms manufacturers and asset managers.

While the £4m donation by Quadrature Capital is the sixth-largest in British political history, it is noteworthy not just for its size, but also its timing.

Of course, no one should really be surprised that Keir Starmer’s Labour Party is accepting donations from hedge funds registered in tax havens. However, there were further revelations from openDemocracy. These include the fact that Quadrature had investments in fossil fuel, arms, and private healthcare companies.

However, the donation got its reward for Quadrature.

Now we know what Quadrature’s £4m was for

As journalist Michael Crick revealed on X, the Labour government’s new climate envoy is Rachel Kyte – who just happens to sit on the advisory board of Quadrature Charitable Foundation:

…

Article continues at https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2024/09/25/labour-quadrature-rachel-kyte

dizzy: The on-the-take shower of sihts that currently govern us probably see nothing wrong with a rich offshore hedge fund buying a plump government role to promote it’s own interests. Years ago it was called corruption.

Continue ReadingLabour just gave a TOP government JOB to someone from its £4m hedge fund donor, Quadrature