Donald Trump Working To Make Corruption Great Again
HuffPost
The president is firing watchdogs, pardoning corrupt officials and making lots of money from $TRUMP.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has spent his first three weeks in office making corruption easier, for him and anyone else with any degree of power.
In a single 24-hour period on Monday, Trump fired the head of the Office of Government Ethics, whose job it is to watch for conflicts of interest. He pardoned a former Illinois governor convicted of trying to sell a U.S. Senate seat. He is stopping the enforcement of an anti-bribery law. His Justice Department ordered prosecutors to drop charges against Eric Adams, who has been indicted on bribery and fraud counts, even as they conceded the decision had little to do with the strength of the evidence against the New York City mayor, who has cozied up to Trump.
In the weeks since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump has ordered a likely illegal mass firing of inspectors general. He pardoned a major drug dealer in a quid-pro-quo with libertarians for their support in the November election. He stripped people who have criticized him of their security clearances, making their livelihoods more difficult. His Justice Department eliminated units aimed at kleptocracy and preventing foreign interference in elections.
And, in an unprecedented move for a president, in the days before taking office, Trump set up a “cryptocurrency” scheme that will allow him to take millions, even billions of dollars from domestic and foreign interests seeking his favor, with no way for Americans to ever track a dime of it.
“By all indications, Trump is planning to run a lawless administration and these unprecedented moves are an alarming first step to put those plans into action,” said Donald Sherman, director of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington watchdog group.
