The Official 2nd Term Trump corruption thread

I can't even begin to imagine all the money funneling from criminals and corrupt foreign leaders into the Trump crypto business and his hundreds of other offshore LLCs and businesses that is hidden. I'm sure it's much worse than everything else we've seen brazenly being done out in the open. Yet, all his brown shirts keep defending his corrupt acts as usual.

His billionaire appointments and Trump loyalists have plenty of conflicts of interests themselves, and the brown shirt Republicans voting them in didn't care.

This is what you get when you have a compulsive lying felon and lifetime con, with the sole goal of living like a King in a palace of gold and life of luxury in charge of the country. You know, the guy telling little girls they don't need more than two dolls. The guy letting ICE zip tie children, and cheering them on. The guy who says he is on a mission of God.

 

It's no wonder crypto is the preferred method of payment for money funneling, drug dealing, illegal arms sales, human trafficking, child p*rn, and all kinds of criminal activity involving horrific crimes. The Trump family jumped onboard that train and are charging on, loading their cargo with billions, while Daddy locks in the deals for favors.

 

Which people? Zhao? Trump? People at the SEC? I never expect self-reflection out of anyone.

I'm confused why the SEC was still investigating when it says a settlement has already been reached and Binance paid $4.3B. Was it an investigation of a different violation? I haven't been following Binance, so I don't know anything about the case.

That's why people should have voted Libertarian, like me.

 

As we speak, long time Trump loyalist Attorney General Bondi said the DOJ won't cooperate with the American Bar Association anymore in vetting judicial nominees. Taking the bi right out of bipartisan when making decisions is the new regime under Trump.

 

Bondi is an Qatari foreign agent and should be tried for treason - the GOP is just a bunch of grifters that have been bought by foreign money.

Thanks to the Citizen's united ruling the GOP has been exposed as "**** THE COUNTRY" give me my money party.

DD

 

Follow the drug money, pardons for drug lords don't come cheap...

Trump pardons drug kingpins even as he escalates U.S. drug war rhetoric
While addressing the Libertarian Party national convention in 2024, President Trump promised to free Ross Ulbricht, a former tech entrepreneur incarcerated for creating a dark web site called Silk Road that was used by drug traffickers. "If you vote for me, on day one I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht," Trump said, sparking applause.

President Trump has long called for escalating the U.S. drug war against Mexican cartels and wants tougher penalties for dealers selling fentanyl and other street drugs in American communities. "I am ready for it, the death penalty, if you deal drugs," Trump said during a meeting with state governors in February, where he said dealers are too often treated with a "slap on the wrist."

But despite his tough rhetoric, Trump has sparked controversy by pardoning a growing number of convicted drug dealers, including this week's move to grant clemency to Larry Hoover, 74, who was serving multiple life sentences in federal prison for crimes linked to his role leading the Chicago-based Gangster Disciples.

Already during the early months of his second term, Trump has granted clemency to at least eight individuals convicted on federal drug charges. Some, including Hoover, have extensive criminal records involving violence and gun charges.

"There's a lot of mixed messages and mixed signals [from the White House] which creates sort of chaos and uncertainty," said Jeffrey Singer, a drug policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank. "On the one hand you're threatening even tougher penalties on people who deal in drugs, while on the other hand you're releasing drug dealers from prisons."

The case of Larry Hoover and the Gangster Disciples
Ron Safer, a former U.S. attorney in Chicago who helped prosecute members of the Gangster Disciples during the 1990s, said he was shocked and dismayed by Trump's decision to commute Hoover's sentence.

He pointed out that Hoover's gang was one of the largest and most violent drug syndicates in the U.S., operating in 35 states according to the U.S Justice Department. Hoover himself was convicted of state and federal charges including murder and use of a firearm while trafficking drugs.

"Larry Hoover was the head of perhaps the most pernicious, efficient drug operation in the United States," Safer said. "They sold over $100 million of drugs a year in the city of Chicago alone. They were responsible for countless murders. They supported their drug territories with ruthless violence."

Hoover was first incarcerated in 1973 after being convicted of murder. In the 1990s, he was convicted of federal charges linked to his role directing the Gangster Disciples.

Hoover is now expected to be transferred from a federal supermax prison to a state correctional facility in Illinois, where he'll remain behind bars, for now, because of the state-level murder conviction. Hoover has sought clemency from Illinois officials before, though his latest bid for parole was rejected overwhelmingly by a state review board in December 2022.

But a White House spokesman, commenting on background because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly, told NPR the Trump administration expects Illinois officials to follow the federal government's lead by freeing Hoover.

"There have been many advocates saying the time [Hoover] served in prison was adequate," the spokesman said.

Amid calls for tough punishments, clemency for high-level drug traffickers
Trump's clemency for Hoover and other drug offenders follows a pattern that began during his first term in the White House. While promising tough action against drug dealers, Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of at least 13 people convicted of federal drug crimes between 2017 and 2021, including high-level dealers linked to violence or convicted of operating major trafficking rings.

In 2020, Trump's administration also freed a senior Mexican military official arrested by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Los Angeles on charges he helped cartels traffic drugs into the U.S. Under pressure from Mexico's government, officials in Trump's Justice Department dropped prosecution of General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda.

In the first month of his second term, Trump also pardoned Ross Ulbricht, a former tech entrepreneur serving a life term in federal prison for creating Silk Road, a dark web internet site that became a major conduit for drug traffickers.

"Ulbricht also demonstrated a willingness to use violence to protect his criminal enterprise and the anonymity of its users, soliciting six murders-for-hire in connection with operating the site, although there is no evidence that these murders were actually carried out," federal prosecutors said in a statement after Ulbricht was sentenced in 2015.

...

But Frederique is critical of Trump's wider stance on drug policy. "These individual acts of clemency starkly contrast with the administration's broader tough-on-crime rhetoric and its ongoing efforts to dismantle lifesaving health services," Frederique said.

Some view Trump's pardons as "transactional"
During his final days in office, President Joe Biden pardoned thousands of offenders, many of them incarcerated on federal drug charges. Biden said the move reflected his growing unease with the drug war.

"This action is an important step toward righting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities, and providing deserving individuals the opportunity to return to their families and communities after spending far too much time behind bars," Biden said.

Drug policy experts interviewed by NPR said it's difficult to find a coherent philosophy behind Trump's use of clemency. According to the Cato Institute's Singer, Trump's pardons often appear "transactional" and often reflect the influence of powerful individuals.

"He actually promised in front of the Libertarian Party convention that if he was elected he would pardon Ross Ulbricht. That was a promise he made hoping to get support from Libertarians," Singer said. "It's not like there's an ideological thread running through [Trump's] decisions."

During that campaign appearance in 2024, Trump openly linked his plan to commute Ulbricht's sentence to his bid for the White House. "If you vote for me, on day one I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht to a sentence of time served," Trump said, sparking applause from Ulbricht's supporters.

The release of Larry Hoover, meanwhile, was championed by the artist Ye — formerly known as Kanye West — who thanked Trump this week on the social media platform X. "WORDS CAN'T EXPRESS MY GRATITUDE FOR OUR DEVOTED ENDURING PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP FOR FREEING LARRY HOOVER," Ye wrote.

During his first term, Trump pardoned and freed Alice Marie Johnson after the reality TV star Kim Kardashian called for her release. Johnson was convicted in 1996 and sentenced to life behind bars for her nonviolent role as part of a Memphis, Tenn., cocaine trafficking ring. Earlier this year, Trump appointed her to serve as his "pardon czar."

In a social media post, Johnson, too, praised the president's latest round of pardons.

"Today 26 deserving individuals were granted clemencies and pardons. Each one represents a story of redemption, rehabilitation, and resilience," Johnson said on the platform X. "Their second chance is a second shot at life."

 

Remember when Biden pardoned his son from any previous and future crimes with the auto pen?

 

Member when dumb ass dems tried to impeach Trump twice instead of providing actual solutions while getting in the way of everything?

 

They can't call out him out on anything because they're in too deep, it's part of their identity at this point which is pretty sad in itself.

 

Follow the money...

Trump’s corruption hits shocking heights

“Follow the money.”

That was FBI agent “Deep Throat,” played by Hal Holbrook, advising a young Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, played by Robert Redford, in the movie “All the President’s Men.” It premiered in theaters 49 years ago.

The advice proved to be golden. And it is golden advice now — for anyone watching the corruption taking place in President Trump’s second term.

Right now, it is hard to miss what looks like a deluge of pocket-lining as private money swirls around this president. And let’s not mention the free airplane he is ready to accept from a foreign power.

The money grab is so breathtaking that it has left Trump’s critics muttering expletives while the normally reliably loud critics of government corruption, especially congressional Republicans, appear in stunned silence.

Even as Trump’s administration seeks to regulate crypto more loosely, his jaunt into crypto — his $TRUMP and $MELANIA meme coins, plus his stake in World Liberty Financial — has reportedly increased his family’s wealth by billions in the last six months and now accounts for almost 40 percent of his net worth.

New York Times reporter Peter Baker posted on X last week, “Trump and his family have monetized the White House more than any other occupant, normalizing activities that once would have provoked heavy blowback and official investigations.”

Presidential scandals of the past seem quaint by comparison — Hillary Clinton’s cattle futures, Eisenhower’s chief of staff resigning over a coat, Nixon stepping down over a “third-rate burglary.”

The magnitude of Trump’s self-serving actions to enrich himself exceeds anything in our history. Nixon sought distance from wrongdoing, telling Americans that he was “not a crook.” He wanted to be clear that he did not personally gain money from any abuse of power that took place in his administration.

Trump makes no effort to proclaim his innocence as he pursues wealth while in public office. And while Nixon held power during a time of relative economic calm for the middle class, Trump is acting against a backdrop of economic anxiety for most Americans.

Mortgage rates have soared past 7 percent. Last month, Moody’s downgraded our federal government’s credit rating, signaling to global investors that America is now a risky bet on the basis of its mounting debt and political instability.

Uncertainty over Trump’s push for tariffs has the stock market on a roller-coaster ride and the bond market — the basis of retirement planning for many Americans — is trembling due to record-setting federal debt. And Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (yes, that’s what it’s actually called), now going through the Senate, is set to push the nation much deeper into debt.

That’s not all. Trump is demanding that Walmart “eat” the tariff-fueled added cost of products it sells, rather than passing them along to customers, even as analysts point out that retailers operate on slim margins.

Last week, the U.S. Court of International Trade deemed Trump’s tariffs to be illegal, further adding to the yo-yo of uncertainty and confusion that is spooking the markets, especially the bond markets.

It wasn’t long ago that conservative Republicans would recoil at the idea of the federal government dictating what profits businesses are allowed to earn. It was heresy. It was an affront to Milton Friedman and Frederick Hayek, conservative patron saints of economics. For decades, corporations used “fiduciary duty” as an argument against government regulation and calls to increase employee pay and benefits.

Now, they’re so fearful of Trump’s social media attacks that they are biting their tongues as they are being rolled by his bullying.

In his first term, Trump promised that his tax cut plans would “pay for themselves.” But the national debt increased by $1.9 trillion. And that tax cut windfall for corporations was not used to create more jobs or raise pay for workers. In most cases, the money went to buy back corporate stocks and make executives and investors richer.

Now the question is whether voters will care. There are gubernatorial elections later this year in Virginia and New Jersey, and congressional midterms next year.

Do voters care that Trump, his family and business partners are cashing in on Bitcoin schemes and lavish quid-pro-quo dinners with wealthy patrons?

Do voters care that Trump’s largest campaign donor, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, now leaving the administration, had access to personal financial information on millions of Americans, which journalists and senators have warned could be useful to his business ventures and harmful to national security?

Do voters care that the outcome of Musk’s attempt to cut government spending has had little impact, beyond fear, confusion and reduction of services?

Do they care that Trump appointed the wealthiest Cabinet in U.S. history? Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick alone is worth over $3 billion — and entered government heavily invested in crypto, which he now helps oversee.

It’s time for the American people to follow the money — and connect the dots. While they grow poorer, Trump and his inner circle are growing ever richer.

 

https://www.pbs.org/weta/washington...-power-to-profit-and-why-no-one-will-stop-him

TRANSCRIPT (view whole video above)
Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

Jeffrey Goldberg: So, here's a partial list of deals and moves Donald Trump has done that would have sunk any other president. He's accepted a $400 million plane as a gift from a Middle East autocracy that hosts both Hamas and the Taliban, and also may be the home of a new Trump hotel. He's dined with top investors in one of his cryptocurrency projects and reportedly promised to promote the crypto industry from the White House. He's pardoned prominent Republicans and reality T.V. stars, including a man convicted of securities fraud, who, with his wife, donated $1.8 million to Trump's reelection campaign, for good measure.

By the way, he commuted the sentence of the leader of the murder of Chicago criminal and organization, the Gangster Disciples, Trump's family is charging half a million dollars to join a private club in Washington, D.C. He's building a golf resort in Vietnam, a country seeking tariff relief for $1.5 billion, and a Trump skyscraper in Ho Chi Minh City, a fact, ho Chi Minh himself would've undoubtedly found darkly amusing.

The Trump organization is planning to build a Trump Tower in Riyadh, for good measure. After a dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Jeff Bezos agreed to pay $40 million to license a documentary about Melania Trump, the most expensive licensing fee ever paid for a documentary. I could go on. I. But I won't because I want our panel to tell us what this all means.

Joining me tonight, Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent at The New York Times, Leigh Ann Caldwell is the chief Washington correspondent for Puck, and Steven Hayes is the editor of The Dispatch. Thank you for joining me.

I want to read you all something from my colleague, David Frum, just wrote about Trump and his relationship to corruption. Quote, nothing like this has ever been attempted or even imagined in the history of the American presidency. Throw away the history books, discard people, comparisons to scandals of the past. There is no analogy with any previous action by any past president. The brazenness of the self-enrichment resembles nothing seen in any earlier White House. This is American corruption on the scale of a post-Soviet republic or a post-colonial African dictatorship.

Peter, agree, disagree, is there any precedent for what we're seeing in American history?

 

So if I owned crypto.
How do I trade it in for cash?

Two things I don't F-with
Crypto and
Condoms.

 

To think Hunter's laptop was all the rage. Now it's crickets from those folks about all the billions Trump and his family are making off his Presidency.

The new excuse: "Its not corruption because he's doing it out in the open."

I wonder if that excuse can work for bank robbers.