Trump’s Top 10 Types of Corruption

On April 29, 2025, Senators Murphy & Warren testified on the Senate floor about Trump’s corruption, with Murphy listing 40 verifiable acts and Warren 100. Although they both issued press releases and their testimonies are popular on YouTube, they received glaringly little press attention, with only Huff Post covering Warren.

Why isn’t this headline news?

Our president is using his office to illicitly garner money and influence. Normally, this would not be allowed. But Trump has removed the guardrails – and the Republican-led Congress and MAGA constituents have looked the other way.

Senator Murphy called it out: “This is not normal. ... This is outlandish; this is illegal; this is unconstitutional, brazen corruption – and this is only the first 100 days.”

As explanation, Lev Parnas, former Trump friend and insider, says that Trump is transactional; it’s how he thinks and operates. That’s evident from the corrupt acts we have witnessed.

Upon examination, I discern at least 10 different categories:

1) Corporate clemency: Dropping investigations and lawsuits in exchange for donations to Trump-affiliated entities.

• Several billionaires (Justin Sun, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, etc.); financial institutions (Capital One, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, etc.); and cryptocurrency institutions (Robinhood, Ripple, Coinbase, Uniswap, etc.) all donated.
• Then, investigations and lawsuits by the SEC, DOJ, and CFPB were terminated.
• Notably, numerous investigations and lawsuits of Musk companies (X, SpaceX, Neuralink, Tesla, Starlink, Boring) by the EEOC, USAID, FAA, FDA, and the NLRB were suspended.

This matters because these crimes are not victimless.

2) Eliminating corporate oversight: Donations in exchange for dodging regulations.

Another version of Pay-to-Play.

• To reward corporate America’s generosity, Trump halted enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (“designed to combat money laundering, tax fraud, and other financial crimes”); the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (makes it illegal for U.S. companies to bribe foreign government officials to secure business deals); and the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA regulates foreign influence on U.S. businesses, etc.); and fired independent commissioners at the FTC.
• Congress legislated a ban on Chinese ownership of TikTok, fearing spying and scraping Americans’ data. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew donated, so Trump kicked the ban down the road.
• Oil, gas, and coal industries donated; Trump gutted the EPA and environmental regulations and issued an Executive Order (EO) to expand coal mining.
• Trump shut down the CFPB, enabling financial firms — big donors — to once again rip off consumers.
• DOGE laid off thousands of IRS employees, decimating the workforce necessary to investigate tax fraud by wealthy individuals and corporations – which will cost an estimated $1T in tax revenue over the next decade.
• The poultry industry donated; Trump rolled back a USDA requirement to limit salmonella, which causes 1.3⁺ million infections (and many deaths) annually. Trump’s USDA and FDA staffing reductions are compromising food-safety inspections.

This matters because it’s the government’s job to protect citizens from harmful business practices; citizens cannot do that on their own.

3) Removing barriers to executive branch corruption.

• Trump fired the head of the Office of Government Ethics, which monitors whether the President and his staff follow the rules and laws on conflicts of interest, bribery, and other ethical concerns.
• Trump weakened the Hatch Act, a 1939 law which shields government employees from partisan priorities and political coercion. Instead, Trump staff wear Trump paraphernalia. Trump removed independent civil servants and installed partisan loyalists, expected to overlook his wrongdoing.
• Trump fired the head of the Office of Whistleblower Protection. Countless whistleblowers have either quit or been fired, after disapproving of Trump’s actions. Moreover, Trump rescinded a Biden-era rule which protected journalists from divulging sources.

This matters because journalists and whistleblowers are now disincentivized to report Trump’s corruption.

4) Removing barriers to government corruption.

• Trump removed many Inspectors General, who investigate “waste, fraud, and abuse,” replacing them with Musk and DOGE persons wildly inexperienced in government matters, who  sliced and diced the federal workforce and budgets without oversight, investigations, nor hearings. Alarmingly, they captured sensitive personal data on Americans.
• Trump butchered the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, which prosecutes corrupt politicians.
• Trump’s end of FARA enforcement means that federal employees may receive bribes from foreign officials without consequences.
• Trump fired the Hatch Act’s review board, which investigated violations. Due to Trump’s Hatch Act Changes, federal employees are now coerced to place loyalty to Trump over duty to country.

This matters because government corruption undermines public trust.

5) Ignoring conflicts of interest.

“Normally when somebody takes a high position, “ stated Senator Murphy, “they divest from their own personal assets, or they put it all in a blind fund.” Although Congress pressured Trump’s divestiture in 2017, today’s Republican-dominated Congress ignores the graft, allowing businesses with direct ties to Trump, his family, and his loyalists to benefit.

• Trump appointed donor Chris Wright, CEO of Liberty Energy, supporter of oil and gas development and opponent of climate-change initiatives, as Energy Secretary.
• Trump filled the Environmental Protection Agency with lobbyists, lawyers, and corporate execs who have long resumés attacking both environmental science plus regulations. Here’s one: “While at the previous Trump EPA and as an American Chemistry Council lobbyist, [Nancy Beck] helped weaken rules around asbestos, methylene chloride, lead, PFAS and PCBs.”
• Trump appointed Doug Burgum, with deep financial ties to Big Oil, as Secretary of the Interior Department. Tony Carkk of Accountable.us articulates, “Americans deserve leaders who prioritize protecting public land for everyone, not for oil and gas profiteering.”
• Several in the Trump administration have purchased or been gifted shares in Trump Media & Technology Group, including Pam Bondi (Attorney General), Linda McMahon (Secretary of Education), Kash Patel (FBI director), Kari Lake (Voice of America director), and many others.

Musk’s conflicts are not only numerous but gargantuan:

• Musk donated thousands of Starlink terminals to FAA’s headquarters, instructing staff to deploy them.
• DOGE has directed FAA funds to Musk’s “Project Lift.”
• Steve Davis was allowed to lead DOGE while also running Boring.
• The Commerce Department expanded Starlink’s funding for rural broadband from $4 to $20B.
• DOGE steered $hundreds of billions to Trump’s Golden Dome project (which some experts consider unfeasible); SpaceX is the frontrunner for the contract, which would utilize Starlink satellites.
• Musk fired FDA regulators reviewing Neuralink products.

This matters because, as Delaney Marsco of the Campaign Legal Center told Rolling Stone, “The public has a right to know that their tax dollars are being spent in the public’s best interest and not to benefit a government employee’s companies.”

6) Extortion: Threatening to withhold federal funds or levy penalties to gain compliance.

• Trump threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status and froze $2B in federal appropriations (which fund research plus 11 affiliate hospitals), after they refused to comply with a list of demands, including abandoning DEI initiatives. Trump issued an EO threatening universities’ accreditation over DEI requirements.
• Trump froze federal aid to Maine, after governor Janet Mills refused to uphold his EO essentially banning trans female athletes. Maine sued, and Trump lost.
• The NIH won’t give grants to institutions with DEI programs or Israeli boycotts.
• Trump coerced NYC Mayor Eric Adams to agree to facilitate his immigration policies in exchange for dismissal of corruption charges—causing seven attorneys to resign.
• Trump coerced law firms to provide him with almost $1B in free services, after he targeted them with investigations and penalties for representing or employing his critics.

This matters because extortion is not only unethical, retaliatory, and sometimes illegal; it is also undemocratic when it dictates a belief system.

7) Rewarding loyalty: Pardoning criminals and awarding appointments.

• Trump loyalists and donors landed appointments:  Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is the HHS director; Elon Musk, DOGE head; Warren Stephens, UK ambassador nominee; Ken Howery, Denmark ambassador nominee; Linda McMahon, Secretary of Education; Howard Lutnick, Commerce Secretary; Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary; Jared Isaacman, NASA director nominee, etc.
• Trump pardoned more than 1500 January 6 loyal insurrectionists, whose violence against peace officers resulted in horrific injuries and deaths.
• Trump pardoned Todd and Julie Chrisley, guilty of tax evasion and bank fraud, after their daughter stumped for Trump.
• He pardoned a corporation, HDR Global Trading (cryptocurrency), for alleged money laundering.
• He pardoned Ross Ulbricht (Silk Road), a dark-web marketplace which traded in bitcoin and sold $200M⁺ in illegal drugs (among other things), because Trump promised supporters—and loves crypto.
• He pardoned gang founder, drug kingpin, and convicted murderer Larry Hoover, after Kanye West lobbied for him.
• Trump pardoned nursing home owner Paul Walczak, guilty of embezzling millions from employees’ paychecks intended for their Social Security and income taxes, after his mother fundraised for Trump. Walczak’s victims won’t receive $4M in restitution.
• Trump brought brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate to the U.S. from Romania, where they were under investigation by Romania and the U.K. for sexual assault and human trafficking, because Andrew is a huge supporter.

This matters because the standard for appointments and pardons shouldn’t be loyalty but the merits of each nominee and case, with consideration given to victims.

8) Profiting from presidential prestige: Allowing outsiders to buy access and influence, which Trump (and family) then profits from.

• Trump sells merchandise with presidential branding.
• Trump promised the top 220 investors in his meme coin an exclusive dinner with him, and the top 25 a White House tour.
• Trump ignored the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause accepting a Qatary gift, a plane valued at $400M. The Clause’s purpose is to shield government officials from corrupting foreign influences, like bribes to persuade the President to grant them favorable treatment or trade agreements, reduce tariffs, or overlook their country’s inhumane or corrupt practices.
• Donald Trump, Jr. and investors launched a private club in Washington, D.C. called the Executive Branch, where membership costs $500M+ and grants private audiences with the Trump administration.
• Apple CEO Tim Cook donated, so iPhone tariffs were exempted.
• After Intuit (creator of TurboTax) donated, Trump discontinued its top FREE competitor: the IRS’s Direct File program.

This matters because a representative democracy doesn’t give more influence to the wealthy – because it’s wrong.

9) Insider trading: Benefiting not only from insider knowledge but also the ability to make and then broadcast global policy, to affect the market.

• Trump reportedly gave Wall Street investors exclusive information about trade talks.
• On April 9, 2025, Trump posted, “This is a great time to buy”; investors did buy, and hours later Trump announced a pause on most tariffs, which boosted those investors’ profits.
• Donald, Jr. and Eric invested in Dominari Holdings and their spinoff, American Data Centers Inc. after their father pledged $500B toward U.S. AI infrastructure and $40B toward data centers, and loosened regulations on the industry. The next day, the stock price rose sharply.

This matters because it gives Trump insiders an unfair advantage – and it’s illegal. If Martha Stewart can go to prison, then ...

10) Cryptocurrency profiteering

• Trump launched his own cryptocurrency days before the inauguration; afterward, he signed EOs making crypto a priority, enhancing his coin’s value.
• Trump and sons launched World Liberty Financial, a crypto “bank,” in October 2024; now his administration sets crypto policy.
• Trump dismantled the DOJ ‘s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, which targets crypto fraud, and signed a bill loosening crypto regulations.

This matters because it sends the message: Oversight and legality are optional.

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NOTE: These constitute just a fraction of Trump’s corrupt acts. Trump has created a Culture of Corruption. And by favoring Corruption over Integrity, Trump eschews what should be the overarching credo of his job: SERVICE to our country. Instead, he serves his family, his loyalists, and himself.

It’s up to us to amplify this information and then contact legislators and demand they put an end to this, because corruption breaks down democracy by creating an un-level playing field.

Instead of a representative government where all Americans have a voice, Trump is creating a plutocracy, where the wealthy buy greater influence.

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