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This week the Trump administration deepened its wildly corrupt and lucrative crypto grift, sought to further enrich wealthy supporters at the direct expense of working households, and continued to pardon white-collar criminals who don the red MAGA cap.

According to a new report out from TRAC this week, federal prosecutions of corporate crime have continued to decline under the second Trump administration, after hitting a 30-year low under Biden’s Attorney General (and shameless Big Law revolver) Merrick Garland and his Deputy AG Lisa Monaco. 

This week the Trump administration continued to dedicate itself to tearing down the safeguards that protect Americans from things like dangerous consumer products and predatory sales tactics, all while his officials and donors (often one and the same) enrich themselves.

Despite the billionaire nominally stepping back, his loyalists remain in control of the group.

A roundup of recent RDP work on the patent system takeover, bipartisan support for crypto, FAA chaos, and more!

This week’s edition covers Trump’s latest grand gesture of corruption—gleeful acceptance of a $400 million gift from the Qatari royal family, Donald Jr.’s moves to cash in on his father’s office, various deregulatory actions across the executive branch, and Musk & company’s numerous conflicts of interest.

The PTAB’s inter partes review (IPR) process was designed to swiftly weed out low-quality patents—the kind that stifle competition, inflate consumer prices, and entrench monopolies. But since Trump and Lutnick’s arrival, a quiet bureaucratic coup at the USPTO has undermined this critical safeguard. Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart has moved to centralize power and gut accountability measures, opening the door to a flood of dubious patents.

The gutting of AmeriCorps is yet another callous move made by Elon Musk’s team at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. AmeriCorps is the national service program that sends full-time volunteers to some of the most vulnerable and underserved communities in the country, reaching where other public or private sector services fall short. In cutting $400 million in AmeriCorps grant funding, nearly a third of the program’s already modest $1.3 billion annual budget, DOGE has displaced over 30,000 volunteers and disrupted more than 1,000 programs. These cuts are already triggering ripple effects in communities across the country, from halted disaster recovery projects to abandoned school programs and shuttered food banks.

As the chaos at Newark airport continues, the FAA is losing its leaders to deferred resignation and Secretary Duffy deflects blame. Meanwhile, United CEO works with traditional media to scapegoat Newark’s traumatized workers.

Trump started his second term in the White House by targeting law firms in retaliation for their past legal work and personnel decisions that displeased him. While some firms pushed back against these assaults on their independence, more than a few BigLaw firms caved. Within the first months of the year, they bowed to Trump’s demands, surrendering in order to avoid (potentially illegal) executive orders that could damage their business interests.

The Musk-damaged agency is unlikely to investigate whether Trump and his allies are profiting from advance knowledge about tariff changes or meme coin shenanigans.

Welcome to week sixteen of the Revolving Door Project’s Corruption Calendar, where we highlight examples of corporate corruption shaping the Trump administration’s agenda and their material impact on everyday people. Read our first fifteen issues here and follow us on Bluesky and X for updates.