‘This is what illegal corruption looks like’: A Democratic Senator has exposed Trump’s immediate lawbreaking post-election
While Donald Trump‘s coronation as the next US president is confirmed, it appears that the worst elements of his governance have already started taking shape.
Democrat senator Elizabeth Warren has directly accused President-elect Donald Trump of breaching a key ethics law, months before assuming office. Warren took to X to voice her frustration, linking a CNN article to her post that sheds light on the alleged malpractice. Here’s what Warren had to say on the subject:
“Donald Trump and his transition team are already breaking the law. I would know because I wrote the law. Incoming presidents are required to prevent conflicts of interest and sign an ethics agreement. This is what illegal corruption looks like.”
Elizabeth Warren/X
As per the CNN article, Trump and his team haven’t submitted a series of documents with Joe Biden’s administration, with the likely motivation being to dodge the mandatory ethics pledge vowing to avoid conflicts of interest once he assumes office. This oversight also highlights a pattern that was seen in his first term, where he was repeatedly accused of multiple potential conflict of interest breaches pertaining to his businesses. The ethics issues also include questions over Trump and his family’s foreign ties, which were constantly brought into the limelight during his campaign run.
According to a source mentioned in the aforementioned article, Trump’s camp is reaching out to the current administration and ironing details regarding the ethics agreement. The handover is legally necessary as per the Presidential Transition act. It is important to note that the ethics pledge caveat was introduced by Trump’s aide Sen. Ron Johnson, with the businessman-politician himself sanctioning it in March 2020.
Trump’s been under the scope for conflict of interest breaches during his first term
During his first term, a 2020 Citizen for Ethics report accused Trump of allegedly being involved in more than 3400 conflict of interest cases during his first term. The report mentions credible sources and is a direct retort to Trump’s promise of refraining to mix personal business interests with his political duties.
The counts included in the report cover a range of conflicts, including foreign diplomats staying in Trump properties during their visits, taxpayer spending at Trump’s ventures, and the most obvious of all, his not-so-covert promotions of his business empire. The report paints a grim picture of how conveniently Trump backtracking from his promises that he made in 2016, including his famous golf visits to courses he owns.
To give the conflicts a statistical outlook, there were 88 political events held at Trump properties, 303 visits to Trump golf courses, 67 foreign trademarks granted to Trump businesses, and 141 members of Congress visited a Trump business at least once. Apart from these blatant counts, a 2022 report revealed that Trump made secret service pay exorbitant rates during their stays at his hotels, with sometimes the tariff per room mark crossing an absurd $1000 per night.
Apart from the exorbitant hotel costs, the Secret Service signed a $174,195 contract to rent golf carts for use at then President’s golf course near his Palm Beach, Florida resort. The contract was signed in October 2020 and extended till May 2021, apart from an extension of a previously signed contract to rent golf vehicles at his Northern Virginia course. Taking these examples into account and the CNN article, it looks difficult that this pattern will break any time soon. Along with the conflict of interest issue looming, the American taxpayer can only pray that his hard-earned money will go in the right places and not get funneled for Trump’s frivolities.
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