It’s unlucky number thirteen in our ongoing Corruption Calendar series, 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 twelve issues can be found here, and you can follow us on Bluesky and X for more updates on our work.
It’s clearer than ever that the Trump regime is highly proficient at simultaneously carrying out an illegal terror campaign and a corporate-aligned agenda. Let’s dive into the key happenings that likely slipped under the radar this week as many of us sensibly focused on the terrifying disappearance of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the 29-year old Maryland man the MAGA regime kidnapped to El Salvador and refuses to bring back.
TALES FROM THE SWAMP
- Don’t Go Looking Under the Pillow of the High-Profile Friend of the President Now. The Washington Post reported that a Trump political appointee unusually ordered Treasury staff to review an audit of MyPillow CEO and unabashed Trump sycophant Mike Lindell. Per the Post, “David Eisner, a political appointee at the Treasury Department, wrote to senior IRS staff that Lindell — whom he called a ‘high profile friend of the president’ — had received his second audit letter in two years and ‘he is concerned he may have been inappropriately targeted.’” Speaking about the request, former national taxpayer advocate Nina Olson remarked that in her 18-year stint at the IRS handling over 4 million cases, she never had a Treasury official write to her about a specific case.
- Musk’s Shady Plan to Get Seniors on X. Wired reported this past Saturday that the Social Security Administration plans to cut its regional workforce by close to 90 percent as it shifts all its communications to X, formerly known as Twitter. The bizarre move would undoubtedly cause confusion for beneficiaries and staff alike while forcing scores of Americans to sign up to Mr. Musk’s social media platform.
- Special Ethics Exemptions for Trump and Musk’s Pals. Advocacy group Public Citizen issued a new report detailing how the Trump administration has “effectively circumvented key anti-corruption safeguards in order to quickly install individuals with potentially major conflicts of interest into high-level government jobs.” The hack: abuse the Special Government Employee designation typically reserved for experts in their field. Public Citizen found that in addition to Musk, the Trump administration has hired at least 12 other individuals with this designation. See their names and titles here.
- Watchdog Contractor Employees Placed on Leave. Bloomberg reported that a majority of employees working for the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) have been put on leave. OFCCP is tasked with ensuring that federal contractors comply with the laws and regulations requiring nondiscrimination. Trump already cut the DOL’s ability to enforce antidiscrimination laws with contractors with an executive order back in January. With the office kneecapped, the Trump-Musk regime will allow businesses to openly discriminate against marginalized groups.
BIG CHECK, BIG FAVOR
- Want To Get In Good With Maga? Cut A Fat Check! It is not a secret that more and more billionaires have been trying to get in the good graces of the administration. Tech moguls donated millions of dollars to the Trump inaugural and billionaires bankrolled the Trump-Vance campaign and were rewarded with high profile positions (just look at Musk, McMahon, and Besent). So when Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav inquired about how to ingratiate himself to Trumpworld like his fellow media oligarch Jeff Bezos, he was directed to take a page out of Amazon’s book and fork over a handsome check. Or better yet, throw some more pro-Trump voices on CNN…because we definitely need more Scott Jennings around.
- DOGE is Helping Trump Sell Visas. The New York Times is now reporting that DOGE and Trump are making good on an idea we all hoped they forgot about and building a system to actually sell visas for $5 million apiece. DOGE engineers are working with the State Department, Homeland Security, and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to create a website to process the visas. As Transparency International’s Maira Martini and Gary Kalman pointed out in Fortune, allowing the rich to buy citizenship or residency is linked to illicit activity , including corruption and money laundering. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed he’s already sold 1,000 of the visas, but reportedly no money has been exchanged yet. (even the Cato Institute notes identifies this idea’s” fundamental illegality) Meanwhile, SCOTUS announced it will take up the Trump regime’s attempt to end birthright citizenship. Visas for Trump and Musk’s buddies amongst the global elite, while Americans’ over-hundred year old citizenship rights are under attack.
- Trump World Financier Installed At Fannie Mae. Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte tapped GOP megadonor and fundraiser Omeed Malik to join the board of mortgage giant Fannie Mae. Malik, a former Bank of America executive and hedge fund CEO, has close ties to the Trump family. Recently he paired up with Donald Trump Jr. to take online gun retailer GrabAGun public. Mr. Malik joins the ranks of Trump megadonors like Howard Lutnick, Linda McMahon, and of course Elon Musk, who donated and raised money for Trump and later secured positions in the regime. Malik’s installation comes as FHFA Director Pulte has increasingly ingratiated himself in the operations of Fannie as well as Freddie Mac, leading Senators Jack Reed, Lisa Blunt Rochester, and Elizabeth Warren to call for an investigation into “potentially unlawful administrative actions” by the director. Pulte’s actions are also fueling speculation that the Trump administration might pursue privatization of Fannie and Freddie, which would be a boon to Trump’s billionaire supporters like Bill Ackman.
- Zuckerberg Wants To Cash In On His Investments In Trumpworld. Mark Zuckerberg, who has been getting much closer with Trump, tried to convince the Federal Trade Commission chair to settle an antitrust case against Meta right before the major trial started. He offered to settle for $450 million, which is just 0.2% of Meta’s annual $164 billion revenue (and much lower than the $30 billion the FTC demanded.) According to the Wall Street Journal, Zuckerberg was “confident” Trump would support him. Zuckerberg’s efforts to sway the president proved unsuccessful after Trump’s antitrust chiefs protested, but keep close watch because the favor machine is likely to whir again.
- Trump IRS Pick’s Debts Paid By Campaign Donors. The Lever reported this week that Trump’s Internal Revenue Service Commissioner pick Billy Long had a debt to the tune of $130,000 paid off by donors almost immediately after getting tapped for the IRS.
- When it Comes to Trump’s Friends, Exemption is The Most Beautiful Word in the Dictionary. As Jonathan Alter recently noted in Washington Monthly, Trump’s “tariffs were Swiss cheese from the start, the perfect means for jaw-dropping corruption.” The tariff exemption process run out of the Commerce Department and Office of the United States Trade Representative is ripe for influence peddling as lobbyists are free to “apply for exemptions or tariff waivers to help individual companies and products, not just industries.” Thus far, Trump has issued exemptions for smart phones, computers, and other electronics built in China. He’s also exempted metals and minerals Elon Musk needed earlier this year. And if the last Trump administration—where exemptions were strongly determined by connections to Trumpworld—is anything to go by, the process is likely to be rife with corruption this time round too.
- Thiel-Backed Payment Start Up Mirroring Trump-Musk Rhetoric is Being Considered for Government-Wide Payment System. Trump’s General Services Administration (GSA) is reportedly eyeing a Thiel-backed credit card and AI company, Ramp, to use in the government’s $700 billion internal expense card program. The company has been mirroring the rhetoric of Trump and Musk’s so-called “efficiency,” pitching their expertise in “how to tackle wasteful government spending.” Thiel was a big backer of J.D. Vance’s rise to becoming Trump’s VP.
- Trump Planned to Help Drug Companies by Raising Prices. This week, the American Prospect reported that Trump’s executive order on drug prices, which was “ripped from drug industry talking points,” will raise prices instead of lower them.
- Truth Social Will…Manage Investments. Finally in the Trumpian pay-to-play world, Popular Information reported that Trump’s media company Truth Social will manage pro-Trump investments. Here’s their take on the new development: “On Tuesday, Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), best known as the parent company of the social media platform Truth Social, announced it was launching a series of actively managed investment accounts. TMTG is marketing these ‘Truth Social-branded Separately Managed Accounts’ as a way to invest in companies that benefit from Trump’s political agenda. Trump remains the majority shareholder of TMTG.”
Got tips on DOGE personnel, 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.
Our Judicial Non- Adherence Tracker, is a resource that tracks all examples of the Trump administration’s non-compliance in court orders.
And our Public Health Trackers following the administration’s response to and management of public health crises, especially measles and bird flu outbreaks.