Corruption Calendar Week 12: Ethics Be Damned

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It’s week twelve of the Revolving Door Project’s Corruption Calendar, where we highlight the latest slate of corporate corruption shaping the Trump Administration and the material impacts of that corruption on real people. Our first eleven issues can be found here, and follow us on Bluesky and X for more updates on this work.

As is now glaringly obvious, the Trump administration’s modus operandi is to inundate the  public with horrifying actions and scores of history-making stories everyday. This is a concerted strategy to “flood the zone” and paralyze Americans from taking action against his numerous illegal attempts to consolidate power. But still, many Americans are wising up to Trump’s chaos agenda. Last weekend’s Hands Off protests, for example, drew hundreds of thousands of people across 1200 cities, illustrating a real commitment to the mass mobilizations necessary to reject Trump’s authoritarian agenda. Even so, we must continue to reveal the sleights-of-hand Trump is dealing to neutralize all threats to his consolidation of power. 

This week’s stories show that from the Justice Department to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Trump admin is simultaneously eroding, side-stepping, and outright defying the checks and balances that distinguish a government that is accountable to the public from one that exists simply to enrich the elite. 

TRUMP 2.0: A RECRUITMENT PROGRAM FOR ALL THE WASHINGTON SWAMP CREATURES

• Tariff Reversal A Boon To Trump’s Allies? Trump quickly reversed course on his “Liberation Day” tariffs, announcing a 90-day pause on the punitive reciprocal tariffs Wednesday afternoon. (All countries other than China are still subject to a universal 10 percent rate; Trump slapped a 145 percent tariff on Beijing.) Some investors seemed to be a step ahead of the chaos, leaving us and others questioning whether they received a privileged tip from the White House. Of course, it’s possible that the ever volatile Trump truthed that it was a “great time to buy” primarily to shore up the market before altering course when faced with a barrage of red stock tickers. But as our Jeff Hauser pointed out to The Intercept, it would only be possible to find out if the admin did covertly signal to its investor allies if “the SEC staff was empowered to do something about it if they saw it,” which is clearly not possible given Trump’s destruction of civil service protections. 
• Meanwhile, Trump-allied opportunists like Marjorie Taylor Green used the Wall Street chaos to “buy the dip.” Trump even took the opportunity to brag about billionaires’ “best day ever,” inviting billionaires Charles Schwab and Roger Penske to the White House after they made $2.5 billion and $900 million, respectively. Ultimately, the boon might be short-lived as investors around the world come to grips with our aspiring monarch. 

• Johnson Indefinitely Stalled New Investigations By The House Ethics Committee. House Speaker Mike Johnson has failed to appoint members to the House’s independent ethics board, which means the board cannot open any new ethics investigations. Democrats submitted names of their appointees, but Republicans are yet to fulfill their responsibilities. The ethics board was previously asked to investigate Johnson after he allegedly omitted information in his personal financial disclosures, including multiple trips paid for by private entities, his wife’s source of income and ownership interests, and even his personal bank account and retirement assets. What other Trump allies in Congress will benefit from a total lack of oversight? 

• FHFA Chief Installed Former Official Investigated For Possibly Violating Ethics Law At Fannie Mae. Over the past few weeks, Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte has been consolidating power over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He overhauled the respective companies’ boards, replacing them with close associates, including two former employees and a DOGE agent who joined the board of Fannie only to step down the next day. In his latest move, Pulte installed former FHFA chief of staff John Roscoe to lead operations and public relations at Fannie Mae. Roscoe previously got in hot water with the FHFA’s inspector general office for potentially violating the STOCK Act after securing a $250,000 bonus for a Fannie executive “as a way to reward the Fannie executive for what the inspectors describe as a ‘candor and willingness to carry out policy direction.’” Pulte personnel decisions seriously call into question his claims to be rooting out unethical conduct. 

• Trump Weakened DOJ Office That Acted As A “Check” On Presidential Powers. The New York Times reported that Trump’s DOJ sidelined the Office of Legal Counsel, a key arbiter of the limits of executive branch authority. OLC was a “traditional check” on presidential power, and the administration’s delay in appointing senior leadership to the office, coupled with this weakening of its authorities, stands to give Trump unbridled ability to do whatever he wants, without internal pushback. 

• DOJ Whistleblower Testified On DOJ Leaderships’ Corruption. Liz Oyer, a former pardon attorney fired by the Trump admin, accused the DOJ of “ongoing corruption” during a congressional hearing this week. Oyer was fired for “refusing to recommend that the gun rights of actor Mel Gibson, a supporter of President Donald Trump’s, be restored.“ During her testimony, Oyer warned Americans that “the leadership of the Department of Justice appears to value political loyalty above the fair and responsible administration of justice.” Oyer also testified that DOJ leaders tried to intimidate her out of testifying by “by dispatching armed deputy marshals to her house to deliver her a letter warning her against testifying, though she was able to forestall the arrival of the officers at her home.” 

DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT INEFFICIENCY 

• DOGE Cuts Apparently Targeted Federal Workers Assessing Self-Driving Car Technology. The Financial Times reported that staffing cuts instigated by DOGE at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, described as “a thorn in Tesla’s side for years,” disproportionately affected staff working on self-driving risks, “hampering oversight of technology” integral to Musk’s car company, Tesla. An anonymous former NHTSA employee told the FT, “There is a clear conflict of interest in allowing someone with a business interest influence over appointments and policy at the agency regulating them.” 

• DOGE Making Taxes For The Wealthy Optional. The IRS was an early target for DOGE, but apparently the $500 billion in lost federal revenue from their cuts isn’t enough havoc on our tax system. Reportedly, DOGE is in the process of “essentially closing down the Tax Division at the Department of Justice,” a move that could go a long way toward making paying taxes basically “voluntary” for those making over $1 million a year. 

• Hegseth Promised Record-Breaking DOD Budget As Musk Reaps Rewards. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been touting DOGE’s success of cutting down millions in “wasteful” programs at the DOD—but when push came to shove, Hegseth pledged a record-breaking $1 trillion budget to the department, pinky-promising to use it “wisely.” One party that was never threatened with cuts? DOGE leader Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX “is poised to reap increased rewards from Hegseth’s department.” Musk’s businesses have received over $38 billion in government loans, contracts and subsidies, most of which are funds to SpaceX from NASA and the DOD. 

• House Dems Opened Investigation Into Musk’s Conflicts Of Interest After DOGE Took Over NASA. House Democrats launched an investigation into Musk’s possible conflicts of interest with NASA as DOGE invaded the agency. A top concern for the members: whether Musk will be permitted access “to information that would give his businesses an advantage over competitors.” 

• DOGE’s Arrival At FTC Created Even More Conflicts of Interest. Elsewhere in the executive branch, DOGE landed at the Federal Trade Commission this week. The consumer protection and antitrust agency previously probed whether Musk’s leadership at Twitter (now X) violated the agency’s 2022 consent decree with the company following allegations that Twitter had deceptively collected users’ data. The DOGE team at the FTC includes Gavin Kliger, the Musk deputy who helped to illegally dismantle the CFPB earlier this year. Before DOGE, Kliger was an engineer at Databricks, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed AI company with deep business ties to Microsoft (the latter of which the FTC happens to be currently investigating.) Kliger reportedly took a leave of absence at Databricks to join DOGE — the type of fact we usually confirm with a personal financial disclosure, but DOGE has yet to release ethics documents for any of its agents! 

DEREGULATION, AKA, DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Outlined Plan To Deregulate The Banking Industry. Bessent called existing banking regulations “overly burdensome and stifling economic growth,” and pitched “easier capital requirements, lighter-touch regulation and changes to supervision,” leaving Americans vulnerable to riskier business practices while banks line their pockets. 

• Chemical Industry Asked Trump Admin To Exempt Them From Rules Limiting Emissions Of Toxic Chemicals. Two chemical industry lobbying groups asked the EPA to “exempt all polluters from Biden-era rules that limit their emissions of toxic chemicals.” Their request follows EPA administrator Lee Zeldin’s announcement that he will slash EPA rules that “aim to cut pollution or mitigate climate change.” 

• Trump’s CFPB Dropped Enforcement Case Against MoneyGram. The CFPB, once a key watchdog for consumer protection, now reduced under Trump to a puppet agency  groveling at the feet of some of the least ethical corporations, asked a federal court to withdraw from the agency’s own 2022 case against cash transfer company MoneyGram. That makes at least nine CFPB enforcement cases dismissed by the agency since the inauguration. 

• Trump’s DOJ Dropped Crypto Investigations. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the department “will no longer pursue cases that he described as better left to financial regulatory agencies.” The move marks the end of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, a group of crypto, cybercrime and money-laundering experts that played a key role in government investigations into crypto schemes. The Trump admin has been dropping crypto enforcement actions left and right. And if Trump’s financial ties to the sector aren’t concerning enough, Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also has ties to crypto giant Tether via his company Cantor Fitzgerald, calling into question whether Tether’s investigations have been dropped as well. Ransomware and fraud were rife despite enforcement efforts under Biden–they will become pandemic under Trump.

SKIP THE STOP AT LEVAIN AND HEAD OVER TO INTERIOR FOR BURGUM’S BITES

• Cabinet Member Asked Federal Employees, Experts In Their Fields, To Bake Him Cookies. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is reportedly abusing his authority by making unusual demands of Interior staff, including making cookies for himself and guests at the department headquarters, acting as servers for a multicourse meal, and using a Park Police helicopter for personal transportation. 

Got tips on DOGE personnel, updates to updates to any of our Trump-Musk Admin trackers, or companies seeking exemptions from Trump’s tariffs? Reach out to us at [email protected]. 

We are continuously updating resources to keep you up to date on Trump and Musk’s all-out assault on everyday people and the Constitution.This includes our newest trackers:  

Billionaires in Trump World, where we log the wealthiest in and around the administration, including cabinet-level officials like Education Secretary Linda McMahon and donors like Richard Uihlein. 

Trump Environment Tracker, a hub for keeping tabs on Trump’s war on our environment, including funding cuts, regulatory rollbacks and harmful impacts. 

And our Public Health Trackers following the administration’s response to and management of public health crises, especially measles and bird flu outbreaks.