The 75 Most Corrupt Things Trump Did in 2026

So far.

A long read but worth it

Ron Filipkowski

Sep 04, 2026

This is a list of the 75 most corrupt things Trump did in 2026. These are not all of the corrupt things. There were many more, all of which I chronicled throughout the year in my daily column ‘Today in Politics.’ I was planning to list 100. However, to get it under the length restrictions for Substack emails, I had to cut the list down to 75.

… These examples are limited to instances where Trump used the presidency to enrich himself, family members and/or wrangle or extort donations to his PAC. It also doesn’t include corruption from his cabinet members or other members of his administration when those things didn’t directly benefit Trump or his family - and there were many of those.

… These are listed in chronological order for the dates when the stories broke which uncovered the corruption. The sheer scope and breadth of these scams and grifts is staggering. It is hard to imagine one family coming up with this many ways to profit off the presidency, but the Trumps have certainly been tireless in finding creative new paths to turn the US presidency into their own personal ATM.

… The other thing that is noteworthy, especially heading into the midterms, is that Republican majorities in Congress have allowed this to happen with zero oversight or investigations. They stood passively by doing nothing, which has only emboldened Trump to be more brazen in his schemes knowing there will be no consequences. Democrats already plan several investigations of many of these specific things as soon as they are able to acquire subpoena power and control of hearings.

… If you aren’t a subscriber or haven’t been in the past, you can read yesterday’s daily Today in Politics column here. My weekly podcast Uncovered is here. Now, on to the specific examples of the most corrupt presidential administration in the history of the US. By far.

Bottom of Form

JANUARY 2026

1. Financial Times: “Trump’s family business has announced $10 billion in luxury developments in Saudi Arabia as it expands its footprint in the Gulf. Real estate developer DarGlobal, which has partnered with the Trump Org in the past, said on Sunday the latest, $7 billion project would include a Trump-branded hotel and golf course as part of Diriyah, a $63 billion development backed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. The two businesses are also working on a $3 billion Trump Plaza tower in Jeddah that will include offices, high-end apartments and town houses. The tower will form part of a larger ‘Manhattan’ project - a nod to the president’s NY real estate background. The announcement comes weeks after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s heir apparent, met Trump in the WH and agreed a series of deals in defense, AI and nuclear energy.”
2. Judd Legum on the kidnapping of Maduro: “The extraordinary attack created a financial windfall for Trump-supporting billionaire Paul Singer. In 2024, Singer donated $5 million to MAGA Inc., Trump’s Super PAC. Singer donated tens of millions more in the 2024 cycle to support Trump’s allies, including $37 million to support the election of Republicans to Congress. He also donated an undisclosed amount to fund Trump’s second transition. In Nov 2025, Singer acquired Citgo, the US-based subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-run oil company. Singer bought Citgo for $5.9 billion - a bargain price in large part due to the embargo on Venezuela oil imports to the US.”
3. Axios: “Trump Media shares fell 67% from the day before he took office through the end of 2025. ($TRUMP), the memecoin, had a spectacular run-up right after its Jan. 17 launch, but then fell quickly. It’s down 89% since Jan. 19. The retail investing public may not have done well with Trump assets in 2025, but the president and his family, by all accounts, did just fine. Forbes estimates the billionaire president’s net worth has more than doubled, fueled by gains in his various crypto investments. The magazine reports Donald Trump Jr.’s net worth rose sixfold in 2025, based also on crypto gains.”
4. Amazon paid $40 million to Melania Trump for the rights to a “documentary” about her life as First Lady, paid another $35 million to promote it, and used the Kennedy Center for the premier. Trump also promoted it repeatedly from the Oval Office and Karoline Leavitt did also from the podium at the WH Briefing Room. Jeff Bezos ensured neither he or his company would be investigated or audited with this bribe.

FEBRUARY 2026

5. CryptoRank analytics: “The official TRUMP and MELANIA tokens have collapsed 92% and 99% from their all-time highs, respectively, and the damage to retail investors has been staggering. While insiders cashed out over $600M through fees and token sales, retail holders absorbed the losses at a ratio of 20-to-1. For every dollar insiders earned, ordinary investors lost $20. In total, retail losses exceed $4.3 billion across nearly two million wallets currently underwater.”
6. Detroit News: “Matthew Moroun, whose family owns the Ambassador Bridge, gave $1 million to a PAC that supports Trump less than a month before Trump threatened to block the opening of a new, competing span between Detroit and Canada. The $1 million receipt for the super PAC MAGA Inc. was revealed in a monthly campaign finance disclosure covering Jan. Moroun gave the money on Jan. 16. 24 days later, on Feb. 9, Trump used a social media post to threaten to prevent the new Gordie Howe Bridge from opening until Canada treats the US with what he described as ‘fairness and respect.’”
7. NYT: “Donald Trump Jr. has deeply entrenched himself in the prediction market industry, serving as a paid strategic advisor to Kalshi and an investor and unpaid advisor to Polymarket, the two largest platforms. His venture capital firm, 1789 Capital, has invested in Polymarket, and he is also affiliated with the upcoming ‘Truth Predict’ platform. His involvement has spurred significant ethical concerns regarding potential conflicts of interest, as he advises platforms where users bet on his father’s admin actions.”
8. WSJ: “While his father Steve Witkoff acts as Trump’s all-purpose special envoy, his son Zach Witkoff now heads up World Liberty, which has doled out at least $1.4 billion to both families since the president’s re-election. Among the payouts: a secret $500 million deal to sell almost half the company to an Abu Dhabi royal and his co-investors. Eric Trump is the public face of a bitcoin company where he holds a $90 million stake, while his brothers, Don Jr. and 19-year-old Barron join him as co-founders of World Liberty. Brandon Lutnick, the son of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, runs his father’s former Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald, a midtier investment bank that has become a top choice for crypto deals.”
9. NYT: “Trump’s allies are offering access to him and other perks to donors who give at least $1 million to a new group supporting flashy initiatives he is planning around the nation’s 250th birthday. Freedom 250 has also emerged as another vehicle, akin to the WH ballroom project, through which people and companies with interests before the Trump admin can make tax-deductible donations to gain access to, and seek favor with, a president who has maintained a keen interest in fund-raising, and a willingness to use the levers of govt power to reward financial supporters. Meredith O’Rourke, the president’s top fund-raiser, is amassing private donations for Freedom 250. The detailed breakdowns of packages for donors indicate that those who give $1 million or more will get invitations to a ‘private Freedom 250 thank you reception’ hosted by Trump, with a ‘historic photo opportunity.’ Those who give $2.5 million or more also are being offered speaking roles at an event in DC on July 4.”
10. Trump was asked about UAE investing $500 million in his crypto company right before Trump agreed to the sale of advanced AI chips to them: Q - “I don’t know about it. I know crypto is a big thing and they like it. A lot of people like it. The people behind me like it. My son is handling that. My family is handling it. And I guess they get investments from different people.”

MARCH 2026

11. NBC: “Michael Flynn and DOJ have agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Flynn over his claims of political targeting in a 2017 case in which he initially pleaded guilty. A judge previously tossed Flynn’s lawsuit in 2024.” Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA): “Flynn pled guilty to lying to the FBI. Twice. Now, Trump cronies at DOJ pay him $1.25 million of your taxpayer money to reward him for his corrupt loyalty. The federal government as racketeering organization.”
12. NYT: “Across both of his terms, Trump has granted clemency to more than 70 allies, donors and others convicted in fraud cases. In his second term, Trump’s pace of pardoning those convicted of fraud has increased. In the first year of his second term, he handed out nearly three dozen pardons and commutations for people accused of fraud.”
13. Trump’s PAC sent a fundraising email to donors promising them “private national security briefings” by Trump on the Iran War. The sales pitch featured a photo from the dignified transfer of service members killed in Kuwait: “For the first time ever, I’m opening up spots on the National Security Briefing Membership. As a National Security Briefing Member, you’ll receive my private national security briefings, unfiltered updates on the threats facing America. You’ll get the inside scoop DIRECT from me.” Pete Buttigieg: “The president’s political operation was raising money off images at a dignified transfer.”
14. WJS: “Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are backing a new drone company that is vying to meet fresh demand from the Pentagon and fill a hole left by the admin’s ban on new Chinese drones in the US. Powerus, a drone roll-up company based in W. Palm Beach, FL, is merging with a publicly traded golf-course holding company backed by the Trumps. The reverse merger will result in Powerus, which was formed last year, trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange in the coming months. The Trump brothers-backed investment bank Dominari Securities which has been involved in the family’s crypto deals, is also involved in the transaction. Separately, asset manager the Korea Corporate Governance Improvement Fund has invested $50 million. Eric Trump is also investing in Israeli drone maker Xtend as part of a $1.5 billion deal to take the company public through a merger with JFB Construction.”
15. NOTUS: “Trump Org filed several previously unreported trademark applications last week in connection with America’s 250th anniversary celebration, all featuring the president’s name as a centerpiece of the highly-anticipated festivities. The trademarks were filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office by DTTM Operations LLC, which manages several other trademarks used by Trump and his businesses, over the last several days.”
16. Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA): “It appears that a Polymarket account ‘Magamyman’ made $515,000 in a single day betting on last night’s US strike on Iran, with the first trade placed 71 minutes before the news broke publicly. When this person bought in, the market had this at a 17% probability. They turned roughly $87,000 into over half a million dollars overnight. Reminder that Donald Trump Jr. sits on Polymarket’s advisory board and his firm invested double-digit millions into the platform last year. The DOJ and CFTC both had active investigations into Polymarket that were dropped after Trump took office.”

APRIL 2026

17. Taxpayers spent $400 million in upgrades for Trump’s Qatari ‘Palace in the Sky’ jet, but as we would later learn during his trip to Turkey, that still wasn’t enough and we would end up spending around $1 billion. WSJ: “When the Qatari royal family acquired a luxury jet for its private fleet more than a decade ago, the Boeing 747 was outfitted with the lavish furnishings and ornate adornments that would befit one of the world’s wealthiest families. Now, as the jumbo jet is expected to become Trump’s own this summer, officials say the plane’s lavish interior will look remarkably similar.”
18. Financial Times: “Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have acquired a position in a US-backed mining venture that recently secured major financial support from agencies under Trump’s admin. The deal is linked to a tungsten mining project that has secured up to $1.6 billion in financial support from US agencies. Tungsten is one of those key materials, known for being a very strong and heat-resistant metal used in armor-piercing bullets, missiles, drilling tools, and other defense equipment.”
19. Forbes: “When American Bitcoin hit the public markets on Sept. 3, investors valued Eric Trump’s company—with an estimated $270 million of bitcoin on its balance sheet—at $13.2 billion. Over the last 8 months, American Bitcoin has taken advantage of that astronomical valuation, dumping shares to buy more bitcoin. The much-diluted stock is now down 92% from its peak. Given that Eric Trump seems to have invested little to get involved with the venture in the first place, he’s still doing fine, having boosted his personal fortune from an estimated $190 million to $280 million through a stroke of financial alchemy. Other insiders have done well, too. The everyday investors who bought into the sales pitch, by contrast, are down an estimated $500 million.”
    
    
    
20. Eric Trump appeared on Fox to brag about his new $24 million Pentagon contract for robots: “It’s gonna change industry, military application, hospitality. The uses are unlimited and I think it’s a very beautiful thing, but we must win that race.” Eric was never involved in this kind of business before he father became president. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA): “Eric Trump went on Fox to brag about winning ANOTHER multimillion-dollar contract from the Trump admin. I’ve been sounding the alarm and pushing for answers. Is the Pentagon just a cash machine for Trump’s kids now? This looks like corruption in plain sight.”
21. Sen. Jon Ossoff on UAE wanting a bailout from the US for the costs of the war: “Well, let’s call it what it would be, which is a bailout for UAE. The way that Emirati money from Emirati Royals has compromised this WH is astonishing. It may be one of the most significant scandals in American history. Who are the president’s two chief negotiators in the Middle East? Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. Witkoff’s son is the key partner in the Trump family crypto business, which has received vast sums of money from Emirati royalty. The NSA in UAE acquired a 49% stake in that business before the US agreed to grant the UAE access to our most sensitive AI chips.”
22. Ossoff: “Then you have Jared Kushner, his private equity firm, affinity partners, which in addition to receiving billions of dollars from Saudi Arabia, has received a lot of Emirati money. The people doing our diplomacy are at the same time doing personal business across the region that’s enriching the first family. The first family is raking in billions of dollars.”
23. NYT: “Last summer, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) sat in his Capitol Hill office in rapt attention as Middle Eastern investors laid out their plans in a video call to develop coastal property in Syria. There was a hitch, though. The Khayyats needed a big favor from Congress with the support of Trump: the permanent lifting of crippling sanctions imposed on Syria. That is when Wilson offered a tactical suggestion: ‘I know how to get the president’s attention. Make it a Trump National Golf Course in Syria.’ Al-Khayyat was already a step ahead. He said he had planned to propose a Trump-branded resort. At the same time, his two older brothers were negotiating an even bigger real estate partnership with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner to help them finance a multibillion-dollar resort in Albania.”
24. The New Republic: “Last year, 4 huge companies pledged tens of millions of dollars to help fund the creation of Trump’s presidential library, a planned monstrosity in Miami that—in a perfect Trumpian twist—may also double as a hotel. The companies—ABC; Paramount; Meta; and X, formerly Twitter—entered into the agreements with Trump to settle legal cases he’d brought against them which experts had dismissed as dubious. After the companies agreed to these shakedowns, the fund created to receive donations was dissolved last Sept. Since then, Senate Democrats have been asking: What happened to the money?”
25. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX): “Paul Walczak had $10 million of employees’ wages and he kept some of to buy a $2 million yacht. His mother contributed to the Trump campaign and he no longer had to pay $4.4 million in restitution or stay in prison.”
26. Bloomberg: “A mixed martial arts company linked to Donald Trump Jr. is looking to win govt contracts by teaching fighting techniques to military and police forces. Mixed Martial Arts Group Ltd., an Australia-based company that counts celebrity brawler Conor McGregor among its investors, is hoping to win payouts from the military and first responders. Trump Jr. invested in the firm late last year, and serves as an adviser to the company.”
27. Bosnian journalist Jasmin Mujanovic: “Trump Jr and Brad Pascale have arrived in Bosnia to meet with Milorad Dodik’s Russian-backed secessionist regime. Dodik, a long time Serb militant and Bosnian Genocide denier, secured US sanctions relief in Oct after hiring Blagojevich and Mike Flynn as lobbyists. Dodik himself is also expected to travel to Budapest to get face time with Vance, while Flynn’s brother and lawyer - who own a firm with zero employees or completed projects - are being pushed as the lead candidates to build a $200 million pipeline in Bosnia.”
28. NYT editorial board: “Trump’s self-serving pardons are so numerous that public attention cannot keep up with them. He has created a veritable pardon industry, in which people with WH connections accept payments from wealthy convicts. Among those on whom he has bestowed freedom are dozens of people convicted of fraud. The results have been disastrous. At least 12 of the pardoned J6 rioters have since been charged with other serious crimes, including child molestation, assault, harassment, murder plots and charges related to a vicious dog attack.”
29. Politico: “A foundation overseeing the construction of Trump’s presidential library has revealed the first renderings of the precedent-shattering project - a towering skyscraper in downtown Miami. Eric Trump, a trustee of the Trump Library Foundation, shared plans for the presidential library in a social media post. The post included a video of renderings of the building, slated to be built on property transferred from Miami Dade College. Trump: “It’s going to be most likely a hotel. Could be an office building.” Journalist Thomas Kennedy: “This is not really a presidential library. It’s a real estate hustle, with land gifted at taxpayer expense, so they can build a hotel complex.”

MAY 2026

30. NYT: “Trump earlier this year purchased more than $1 million in the stock of Dell, a transaction that is drawing scrutiny after the Pentagon this week announced a $9.7 billion contract with the computer company. The sequence of events illustrates the complications that emerge when a sitting president continues, even if through financial advisers, to buy and sell publicly traded stocks like Dell. Trump also went out of his way in Feb to praise Dell and its founder, Michael Dell, at an event in GA that took place 9 days after Trump’s purchase of more than $1 million in Dell stock. He went on to endorse their computer products: ‘Go out and buy a Dell computer,’ Trump said. The Pentagon contract gives Dell the right to oversee purchases across DOD for Microsoft software, services and licenses - a ‘blanket purchase agreement’ that the govt estimated is worth $9.69 billion.”
31. ProPublica: “When the Pentagon announced a $620 million loan last year to a small NC startup linked to Donald Trump Jr., defense officials and the company tried to tamp down suspicions of cronyism. The president’s eldest son said through a spokesperson that he wasn’t involved. The Pentagon said Trump Jr. played no role in the record-setting deal. And the startup’s founder told reporters that his company, Vulcan Elements, received no political favoritism. But DOD records show that the request to loan hundreds of millions of dollars to the firm linked to Trump Jr. was made by Peter Navarro, a WH adviser to Trump and a friend of Trump Jr.’s. Of the dozens of companies the Pentagon was considering funding at the time, Vulcan’s was the only deal initiated by a top aide to the president. After defense officials got the WH request, they asked Pentagon staff to move at an unusually rapid pace. The staff worked late nights and with little sleep to get the loan through in a matter of weeks.”
    
32. USA Today: “Trump, earlier this year, bought as much as $680,000 in stock of Eli Lilly, the maker of blockbuster obesity drugs, as the agencies he oversees undertook an agenda that largely benefited the company. The trades for Lilly – a company the stock market valued at just under $1 trillion – stand out. That’s because the timing of Trump’s purchases coincides with several favorable govt decisions benefiting the drugmaker’s GLP-1 business, including progress toward a long-held goal: qualifying the drugs for reimbursement from Medicare.”
33. Daily Beast: “The long-delayed golden Trump Mobile phone looks nothing like the advertised image, has a smaller screen than promised, and its color leaves a lot to be desired, according to one of the few people to lay eyes on a real one. The $500 Trump phone has now been delivered to tech media for review, one year after it was announced and 9 months after its hard launch to cash-rich MAGA diehards. Not only is the screen smaller than expected, but the phone is also not made in America as promised. One expert: “All ‘Trump Mobile’ did was purchase a bunch of unsold stock because their attempts to tell people who made a deposit they weren’t getting their money back was going to result in lawsuits. So congratulations, you’re all paying for useless, outdated, Chinese tech that has been re-skinned. Fell for it again!”
34. Irish Star: “In 2017, Trump Org launched an official retail website, TrumpStore.com, which sells Trump-branded merchandise. While Trump’s two older sons, Eric and Donald Jr., are listed as the leaders of the Trump Org, it is still owned by the president. A new report found that the Trump Store continues to release hundreds of products - and he’s making an impressive profit from the merch. CREW released a new analysis finding that the Trump Store has launched at least 622 products since the start of Trump’s second term in office. If a supporter wanted to purchase every in-stock item from the Trump Store right now, it would cost $91,145.12 for the 1,492 items. At least 99 of those items directly reference the presidency.”
35. Todd Blanche settled Trump’s frivolous IRS lawsuit by giving him IRS immunity. The Independent: “The govt will be ‘forever barred and precluded’ from pursuing IRS-related claims against Trump, his family, or his businesses. The settlement shields the president from a potentially damaging ruling that could have cost him more than $100 million. The ruling could have stemmed from the IRS’ audit of Trump, which he has long cited as the reason he did not release his tax returns. The audit centered on a nearly $73 million tax refund Trump claimed around 2010. The IRS contended that Trump improperly claimed the same losses twice for a Chicago tower, where he reported losses of up to $651 million.”
    
    
    
36. NYT: “The tobacco company Reynolds American donated $5 million to a super PAC backed by Trump last month, about one week before his admin rolled out a new policy that could prove lucrative to the tobacco industry. The donation, which came through a Reynolds subsidiary and brings to $8 million the total donated by the subsidiary to MAGA Inc. The donation came on April 30. Two days later, a top executive at Reynolds and two lobbyists who represent the company had lunch with Trump at his golf club in Jupiter, FL. At the lunch, the tobacco industry representatives expressed dissatisfaction with the way the FDA was regulating the industry. Less than one week later, the FDA issued new guidance that could pave the way for major tobacco companies to begin selling flavored vapes.”
37. The second part of the IRS settlement was to create a $1.7 billion ‘Weaponization Fund’ where Trump appointees could dole out cash to his supporters who were convicted of crimes or charged with crimes. ABC: “The commission overseeing the compensation fund would have the total authority to hand out approximately $1.7 billion in taxpayer funds to settle claims. The arrangement would be an unprecedented use of taxpayer dollars with little oversight. The commission would be under no obligation to disclose its procedures or decision-making process for awarding more than a billion dollars.”
38. Rachel Maddow: “So in January, Trump buys hundreds of thousands of dollars of stock in Nvidia. Then a week later, his Commerce Dept approves the sale of Nvidia chips to China. Also in January, Trump buys between $50,000-100,000 worth of stock in AMD. One week after he buys it, his Commerce Dept approves AMD doing business in China as well. That same day, Trump bought hundreds of thousands of dollars of stock in Apple. And then that same day he bought the stock, he did another event where he singled out Apple and Apple CEO Tim cook for praise. ‘Apple - a great company.’
39. “Then after that, Trump buys Micron stock. The very next day, he calls into Fox and tells them Micron is one of the hottest companies. Trump makes 7 separate purchases of Palantir stock. Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Palantir stock. Then he gets on Truth Social and praises Palantir.”
40. MarketWatch: “In Oct, the Trump admin released a ‘Fusion Science and Technology Roadmap’ to support the construction of commercial fusion power plants as soon as the 2030s. 2 months later, Trump Media announced a merger agreement with TAE Tech, a fusion company that has helped pioneer field-reserved configurations and been a leader in the commercial development of aneutronic fuels. TMTG’s investment raises potential conflicts of interest, given the president’s big stake in TMTG and his influence over the govt. Trump is TMTG’s largest shareholder, with a 41% position held through a revocable trust in which he is the sole beneficiary. That trust has Donald Trump Jr., as its sole trustee, and Trump Jr. is also on TMTG’s board of directors.”

JUNE 2026

41. The Atlantic: “5 current and former admin officials and 9 private-sector lawyers, lobbyists, and other individuals with ties to Trump’s orbit told us that the jockeying among those seeking clemency for past crimes has been intense. One criminal-defense attorney called it ‘a 3-ring circus,’ and a former admin official said that it was ‘batshit crazy.’ One lobbyist told us that he had started turning off his cellphone as the ‘aggressive’ requests from clients intensified in recent weeks. One attorney familiar with the recent pardon efforts told us that there have been discussions involving ‘very rich, well-placed individuals’ from India, Greece, Turkey, and France who were told that their cases were under consideration. One attorney: “It is general knowledge in our practice that for $2 million, you can have a pardon. The clients come to us and tell us, I’ve been told I need to go hire this specific person, and I will get a pardon.” Liz Oyer, who was DOJ’s Pardon Attorney under Biden: “Trump has turned the pardon process into the Hunger Games.”
42. Clash Report: “Trump purchased up to $5 million in shares of Axon Enterprise just two weeks before immigration authorities pursued a $220 million contract tailored to the company’s weapons. A disclosure reveals Trump acquired between $1-5 million of stock in the law enforcement tech manufacturer on Feb 10. On Feb 24, ICE issued a procurement notice for roughly 17,800 new Tasers. The prospective 5-year contract would more than quadruple the agency’s current arsenal of 4,300 devices.”
43. NYT: When Howard Lutnick met with Kazakhstan’s president at the St. Regis Hotel last Sept in NY, Trump jumped in by phone as the men sealed a deal on a top priority for Washington. During the call, Trump and his team won an agreement from the Kazakh leader to give a little-known American company access to one of the world’s largest untapped reserves of tungsten. Ahead of the deal, the Trump admin approved preliminary applications for as much as $1.6 billion in federal financing for the American company. It was not only Trump and Lutnick who saw an opportunity. Their sons were soon doing business with partners in a deal that their fathers were negotiating, continuing a pattern of self-enrichment in the second Trump admin that has few precedents in American history. Within weeks of the St. Regis negotiations, investors with a firm called Dominari Securities, which is housed at Trump Tower in NY and partly owned by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, joined with other partners to take a 20% stake in a corporate entity related to the Kazakhstan project.”
44. Forbes: “Donald Trump Jr. held a private meeting with Indian billionaire Gautam Adani while visiting the country in Nov last year, as the billionaire faced federal fraud and bribery charges in the US - dropped by the Trump admin last month. He pledged to invest $10 billion in the US. Adani’s younger son, Jeet Adani—who was involved in a push to end the federal case—met with Trump Jr. in Mar-a-Lago last year.”
45. WaPo: “More than half of the publicly identified corporate donors to Trump’s WH ballroom project have received new or expanded federal contracts. A watchdog report detailed that these contracts are collectively worth over $50 billion. 14 of the 27 known corporate donors secured additional federal business in the months following their contributions. Lockheed Martin received the most new business, totaling approximately $43.8 billion. Other major donors that won increased federal contracts include Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Palantir. Many of the donating companies were simultaneously facing federal enforcement actions that were eased or quietly suspended under the Trump admin.”

JULY 2026

46. WSJ: “Almost every night in the WH, Trump calls his fundraiser, Meredith O’Rourke, for an update. Trump asks O’Rourke which companies and donors have cut checks and which haven’t, and for how much. He often asks her to make much larger financial requests than she was planning—for some donors the ask is $5 million, for others it is $50 million. And the president gives her names to call, often including people who have recently met with him. Trump stands out for taking personal control of the fundraising, and no sitting American president has ever raised these amounts for his pet projects. At the same time, companies have paid new attention to the WH as Trump has gotten involved in regulatory decisions that once were made by independent agencies, dramatically shifting the balance of power across Washington. Trump has been demanding large checks from companies for a range of political and legacy projects—telling executives and lobbyists that their companies should give $25 million or $50 million. He has sometimes offered donors special access. All told, Trump has raised more than $800 million since returning to office. Interviews with dozens of donors, executives, lobbyists, Trump advisers and others indicate a staggering fundraising and influence operation, with Trump at the center of it all. The president closely tracks who gives, aides said, repeatedly assigning O’Rourke with big asks.”
47. Amanda Fischer, former Chief of Staff for the SEC, on the Republican bill to enact ethics language for govt officials who seek to trade in crypto: “POTUS can continue to profit from his existing crypto ventures. He has a year plus to put his crypto ownership interests in a blind trust. No restrictions on earning trading fee income or reserve asset income. Todd Blanche is responsible for policing this (lol). No state AG or private enforcement allowed. POTUS can keep appearing at events hyping his crypto. His sons aren’t covered and can continue to promote Trump crypto ventures.” Sen. Chris Murphy: “Yes, it grandfathers in all of Trump’s existing crypto corruption. And it doesn’t cover the family businesses. AND it sunsets after just a few years. Just a joke.”
48. NYT: “Trump quietly denied nearly 6,000 clemency applications this month from people who mostly lacked political connections and had waited patiently in a queue while he awarded pardons and commutations to allies who had skipped the line. Instead, Trump doled out fewer than 20 pardons on July 3 to Clean Air Act scofflaws along with a political donor.”
49. WaPo: “Trump’s social network Truth Social announced that it will start selling investors quicker access to posts from prominent accounts, opening an unprecedented new way the president could profit from his office. He has used the service to make major announcements about the Iran war, tariffs and the Federal Reserve. His posts regularly move the stock and oil markets.” Kevin McGurn, CEO of Trump Media: “Markets already move on Truth Social posts. As adoption grows, we expect Truth API to become a meaningful, ongoing source of revenue for the company, creating lasting value for shareholders.”
50. WaPo: “Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have amassed a portfolio of defense tech start-ups that are benefiting from new Pentagon priorities and spending, further entangling the US’ interests and the Trump family’s financial fortunes in an area with immense stakes for national security. As the current admin has made modernizing the tools of warfighting a centerpiece of its national security agenda, funds linked to the Trump brothers have invested in more than a dozen defense tech companies and other firms seeking businesses from the Pentagon and federal agencies. The companies have collectively generated at least $3.2 billion in direct govt business since the sons invested and an additional $3.1 billion in future contract options. Some have gained coveted spots on shortlists of preapproved contractors that can bid exclusively on up to nearly $200 billion in future work.”
    
51. Reuters: “A Miami-based businessman wanted in Albania for allegedly laundering drug money is suspected of faking the deeds to land where Jared Kushner wants to build a multi-billion-dollar resort, the country’s organized crime-fighting agency said in case files. The case files accuse Shehu and associates of trafficking South American cocaine into European ports, and laundering the funds by using them to establish a ‌real estate empire, including with falsified land-ownership documents. In April, Shehu sold the strip of pristine Albanian coastline for the planned resort to Albania Land Development, a company which is owned by the Kushner-backed project’s developers.”
52. MS NOW host Jen Psaki on Freedom 250: “In order to put on this celebration, Trump is using $68 million of taxpayer money to a company called Event Strategies Inc. It’s run by a group of Trump allies. So far, that money has paid for a janky ferris wheel plagued by power outages, a couple of tents with chairs in them, a temu version of Trump’s arch, which appears to be falling apart and seems like it’s being held together with a slapdash sealant job, and some bizarre entertainment - half of which seems to just be Trump officials sitting on stage, basically filling the time. So how much of that $68 million actually went to the state fair, and how much to Event Strategies Inc. did they get to keep for themselves?”
53. NBC: “Investment accounts owned by Trump engaged in more than 300 previously undisclosed stock purchases on April 8, 2025, one day ahead of his surprise announcement that he would pause a number of his ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs. Despite a 45-day deadline to report financial transactions, none of the 327 stock purchases on April 8 had been disclosed before Tues. Instead, the trades are scattered throughout a spreadsheet-style document that runs more than 900 pages.”
    
    
    
54. Axios: “Trump’s $2.2 billion financial disclosure is a 927-page roadmap for the coming investigations, itemizing every known venture that made 2025 the richest year of his life. A crypto business that barely existed when Trump took office minted him roughly $1.2 billion - eclipsing, in a single year, the real estate empire he spent decades building. His biggest single payday was $635 million in royalties from the $TRUMP meme coin, which has crashed roughly 95% from its inauguration-week launch - destroying billions for the small investors who bought in. Trump also reported tens of millions from legal settlements with major media and tech companies, plus new income from branded watches, sneakers, Bibles, fragrances and foreign licensing deals.”
55. NYT: Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and the sons of Howard Lutnick have ties to at least 14 companies seeking $8.9 billion in federal support for critical-minerals deals. Jared Kushner has raised billions from Gulf govts while leading Middle East peace talks. In Albania, Kushner’s firm won ‘strategic investor’ status for a $1.4 billion luxury resort on a protected island - igniting mass protests.”
56. NYT: “Trump returned to the WH with an epiphany about mixing business and politics during his first term in office. ‘I found out that nobody cared, Trump said, revealing a remarkable indifference to potential conflicts of interest. Trump’s latest financial disclosure revealed that he made about $1.4 billion from his family’s cryptocurrency businesses during his first year back in office - even as the Trump admin has relaxed regulation of crypto companies. He and his family have amassed a mammoth windfall. Overall, Trump pulled in at least $2.2 billion during his first year back in office. That is compared with at least $622 million his enterprises brought in for all of 2024.”
57. NYT: “A large chunk of the $2 billion haul Trump took in last year came as hundreds of thousands of his fans and other investors bet on a speculative cryptocurrency called $TRUMP, hoping its value would soar with his return to the WH. But while Trump amassed an eye-popping $636 million from the cryptocurrency, known as a memecoin, many of his followers who heeded his call to purchase the coin came out losers.” Economist Steve Rattner: “Trump has earned $2.3 billion since the beginning of his presidency through 4 different crypto schemes. The common denominator for each: the Trumps win big, and you lose.”
58. CNN’s Alayna Treene: “Over the 2025 year, he took in nearly $77.5 million from Mar-a-Lago. That is more than 50% over what it earned him in the previous year, and triple what he was bringing in from the year 2020. The membership fee at Mar-a-Lago has risen now to $1 million. Compare that with what Trump was charging members at MAL before he ever ran for president before 2016 - just $100,000.”
59. MS NOW: “Just over a week after US and Israeli forces struck Iran in late Feb, a publicly traded FL golf course company announced an unusual plan: a reverse merger to take a barely year-old drone startup public. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump were part owners of the golf course company; now, they are backers of the drone startup. 7 weeks later, after a demonstration in AZ, the Air Force placed a limited order for the startup’s interceptor drones.”

AUGUST 2026

60. WSJ: “The investment fund 1789 Capital, in which Donald Trump Jr. is a partner, is investing around $300 million into Polymarket. The investment will make 1789 one of Polymarket’s largest backers. In March, Trump Jr. spoke about the benefits of prediction markets during headline remarks at a conference of the Republican AG Assn, and urged attendees to leave regulation to the fed govt.”
61. WSJ: “The Abu Dhabi royal sometimes referred to as the ‘spy sheikh’ is a major shareholder backing a new US bank the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture is preparing to launch. Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan and co-investors are behind an entity that owns the largest stake—49%—in the holding company that World Liberty Financial created to house its banking venture. The sheikh last year backed a $500 million investment into World Liberty Financial in exchange for a 49% stake in the company.”
62. WaPo: “The Trump admin’s latest deal to cancel offshore wind projects and boost fossil fuel energy development instead is generating a huge payday for one of the president’s million-dollar donors. Behind the windfall is a settlement stipulating that German energy giant RWE will receive $1.2 billion from a federal fund on the condition that it gives up its offshore wind leases in NY, CA and LA and invests in unspecified oil, gas or nuclear ‘conventional energy’ projects. The stake is being purchased from a private equity fund run by Australian billionaire Michael Dorrell. Dorrell personally gave $926,300 to the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee two weeks after Trump was elected for a second term in late 2024 and another $73,700 a few weeks later. The link to Dorrell drew the ire of lawmakers who were already working to unwind the payouts to energy companies complicit in what they say is an illegal admin scheme to sink offshore wind.”
    
    
    
63. CBS: “Trump’s investment accounts have continued to purchase and sell stock holdings in oil and natural gas companies while he oversees the US war with Iran, according to his financial disclosure filings. As the Iran war continued, paused for a ceasefire and then restarted, Trump has purchased and sold oil and gas stocks. Trump has a vast portfolio with holdings in all 11 sectors. In the first 3 months of the year, his accounts executed about 3,600 stock or securities trades, worth a total that ranged between $212 million and $695 million. Energy stocks surged during that period, which encompasses the US operation in Venezuela in early January and the war with Iran.”
64. WSJ: Trump personally intervened to force a DOJ settlement with Ticketmaster owner Live Nation, which faced a high-profile antitrust trial for abusing its market power and illegally crushing competition. DOJ, which sued Live Nation in 2024 during Biden’s admin, was preparing to wage a legal battle more than a decade in the making against the world’s largest concert promoter. Then Trump called. A senior DOJ official relayed to associates that the president told them to ‘settle it.’ That came shortly after the president met with the company’s CEO, Michael Rapino, in the Oval Office. Trump had called the meeting to discuss how to improve bookings at the Kennedy Center. By the end of the meeting, the Live Nation case was settled.
65. CNBC: “Trump disclosed 1,051 financial transactions for the month of June in what appears to be broad reshuffling of his portfolio. The president rotated in and out of stocks, bonds and exchange-traded funds throughout the month. The transactions totaled between $78-263 million.” Examples: He bought $250K–$500K in Boeing, the same day the Navy awarded Boeing an $880 million contract for P-8A training systems. June 23: Bought $15K–$50K in SpaceX, the same day NASA recorded a $425.6 million award to SpaceX.”
66. Meidas reporter Scott Macfarlane: “Trump’s ‘get out of jail free’ cards for convicted crooks are actually costing crime victims a fortune. A scathing new investigation by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee details how the sweeping wave of Trump’s pardons has robbed federal crime victims of $1.7 billion in potential restitution and fines. Because Trump wiped clean the slate of court-ordered restitution to victims, the convicted criminals are relieved of having to pay back stolen funds or to fix damage of their crimes.”
67. WSJ: “In 2023, Donald Trump Jr. stood on a podium at the NY Stock Exchange to celebrate the debut of PublicSquare, a little-known online marketplace founded as a MAGA alternative to Amazon and other e-commerce sites. Company executives hoped Trump Jr., an early investor and board member whose father pushed to snuff out progressive politics in American boardrooms, would help drive business to their ‘anti-woke’ marketplace. The company has reported cumulative losses of nearly $160 million since going public, through the end of July, and remains unprofitable. Its stock has cratered by 99% since it went public in 2023. Starting in 2024, shortly after Trump won the presidential election, the West Palm Beach, FL, company paid Trump Jr. $42,000 a month in consulting fees. Last year, Trump Jr. was making more than the company’s then-CEO.”
68. Mother Jones: “Federal regulators have given Trump’s family crypto business a conditional approval to operate like a bank. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency—led by Trump appointee Jonathan Gould—announced that World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture controlled by the Trump family, was on track to receive a banking charter. This will allow WLF to issue its stablecoin tokens inside the US without an intermediary.” NOTUS financial reporter Jeff Stein: “Just so people are really aware of what this means: A Trump appointee has approved Trump’s personal crypto firm to operate as a bank. Corporations can conduct transactions in which the Trump family gets a cut. The public will not have to be informed. There’s no precedent for this.”
69. WaPo: “Trump’s media company has forged ahead with selling investors advance access to top Truth Social posts despite legal and ethical questions as it faces renewed scrutiny over its financial stability and relevance. Trump Media reported that it had signed up more than 10 customers in the week since the launch of its new product, Truth API. The company said that customers were paying ‘generally in the range’ of $60,000 to $100,000 per month.”
70. High Country News: “Barnard Construction, an engineering contractor based in Bozeman, MT, recently celebrated its 50th year in business. On its website, the company lays out a colorful history that starts in 1975. What the website doesn’t show are the company’s largest federal contracts: the billions of taxpayer dollars Barnard has been awarded to build Trump’s border wall. Also unmentioned are its founder’s financial ties to the president. The OBBB allocated $46.5 billion for the wall project. Barnard is among the biggest winners. The company and its affiliates have been awarded more than $5.6 billion in border construction contracts since Trump returned to office. Add their previous border wall contracts and the total rises to more than $7 billion. Meanwhile, FEC records show that Barnard and his wife have contributed millions of dollars over the years to Republican candidates and causes - including more than $1 million to Trump’s presidential campaigns.”
71. NYT: “During the World Cup soccer final last month, Zach Witkoff, co-founder of Trump’s cryptocurrency company, took in the action from a luxury suite. Joining him was a man who had made the president, and all the company’s co-founders, much richer. Two years earlier, the man, Guren ‘Bobby’ Zhou, was a failed hardwood flooring retailer in Britain who had come under investigation there for money laundering and presided over the collapse of a small crypto start-up. Then seemingly out of nowhere, he became one of the biggest buyers of tokens from Trump’s company, World Liberty Financial, dropping a total of $100 million through a new firm called Aqua 1. $75 million of that money was distributed to a company controlled by the president and his 3 sons.”
72. Guardian: “An American oil company connected to Trump is preparing to sink wells in remote Greenland despite not having received permission from the local authorities. As the US president renews his threats to claim the vast Arctic territory, materials to prepare for drilling were brought ashore in recent days on Greenland’s eastern coast. Two days later, Trump made his latest menacing post on Truth Social, showing himself looming over a Greenlandic village. Larry Swets, Greenland Energy’s chair and a big shareholder, appears to enjoy access to Trump’s circle.”
73. NBC: “The Trump admin has awarded a $150 million contract to give legal representation to migrant children traveling alone to the US to Burke Law Group, a small Texas law firm with ties to the admin but little experience in immigration law. Michael Lukens, who heads the Amica Center: “Upsetting and shocking. It really does forebode a situation where children are going to get no meaningful due process, no meaningful day in court. We cannot have a random law firm entrusted to take care of children.” The firm has given over $1.7 million in campaign contributions to Republicans.
74. The Hill: “Trump’s son Eric said an old Air Force One will go on display at his father’s presidential library in Miami. He said the library complex skyscraper is being built “around a 747. I’m sure wings will have to come off in order to just sneak it in there, but we’ll make it happen.”

SEPTEMBER 2026

75. Just days after issuing an executive order renaming Lake Ontario to Lake of America, Trump began selling Lake of America hats on his online store for $55.