If the Chump administration has a theme song, it's "The Grift Goes On." Check out the latest on Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard from RAW STORY's Matt Laslo:
President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, is open for business — on social media at least.
Gabbard has been DNI since February, yet a Raw Story review of her social media presence reveals her personal X account is still offering subscriptions at $5 a month.
But that’s not all. On Gabbard’s personal Substack, it appears anyone, anywhere, foreign or domestic, can send unlimited donations.
“That’s
not normal,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told Raw Story, while
walking to a vote in the Capitol. “It does become an interesting
conflict of interest, though, if it’s a violation of ethics rules.
”That is crazy," said Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY), a former Army intelligence officer. "There's so much corruption, it's sort of like, where do you focus?"
Trashy Garbage, as Trina long ago dubbed her, is only one member of the Chump Crime Syndicate. Carl Gibson notes another criminal scheme:
President Donald Trump is continuing to blur the lines between the federal government and his private businesses as his family rolls out its latest cryptocurrency project.
The New York Times reported that Trump's son, Eric, recently appeared at a conference in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) alongside Zach Witkoff, who is a co-founder of the Trump family's World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency company. The two announced that the government of Abu Dhabi (the capital city of the UAE) was investing $2 billion into the Binance cryptocurrency exchange — the largest crypto market by volume — using a so-called "stablecoin" (a cryptocurrency designed to have a constant value close to $1) developed by the Trump family's company.
According to the Times, that deal is likely to net the Trump family a profit in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The Times' David Yaffe-Bellany wrote that World Liberty's work has "created conflicts of interest with no precedent in modern U.S. history" given the amount of foreign investors typically barred from making conventional political contributions chipping in large sums of money.
Justin Sun — a Chinese-born billionaire who runs the TRON cryptocurrency exchange — is a top investor in World Liberty. After Trump was elected, he bought $75 million worth of World Liberty's $WLFI coins. That purchase came after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused him of manipulating one of TRON's cryptocurrencies. The Times reported that the SEC then asked a judge to pause the investigation into Sun after Trump was reelected last year.
Quid pro quo. Tit for tat. Pay to play. Call it what you will, it's putting democracy up for sale and it's not just unethical, it's illegal. Nikki McCann Ramirez (ROLLING STONE) offers another example:
Donald Trump and his family continue to cash in on cryptocurrency from entities looking to curry influence with the president and his administration - which is simultaneously working to deregulate the industry.
At a crypto conference in the United Arab Emirates, Eric Trump and Zach Witkoff announced that the Trump family's stablecoin - World Liberty Financial's USD1 - will be the vehicle for the state-backed Emirati investment firm MGX to invest $2 billion into Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange.
The announcement comes weeks after Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao claimed he had "no discussions of a Binance US deal with … well, anyone."
The transaction comes with a host of ethical baggage. For starters, World Liberty Financial (a decentralized exchange "inspired by Donald J. Trump"), is co-created and managed by Trump's family - as well as that of Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who has been functioning like a shadow secretary of State -and will now have direct financial ties to Binance, which in November 2023 pleaded guilty to financial crimes including money laundering, sanctions violations, and unlicensed operations. The exchange was slapped with heavy restrictions on operations within the U.S. On top of that, the transaction involves a foreign government with clear political interests in the United States. Much like Trump used his hotels as vehicles for foreign entities to court favor with the presidency, the signal being broadcast by World Liberty Financial is that the Trumps are open to investments.
Chump and his cabinet are betraying the country to line their own pockets. This is far worse than The Teapot Dome Scandal. It is The Chump Criminal Syndicate. Josh Meyer (USA TODAY) notes:
Just two of the cryptocurrency investments owned by Trump-affiliated entities have made at least $300 million in trading fees alone on sales of his meme coin and other digital currency since January, according to ethics watchdogs, Democratic lawmakers, crypto analysts and other experts.
Greater potential profits lie in the Trump entities’ stake in the value of the meme coin and their other Trump-themed crypto investments, these analysts and other experts say.
Last week, another of the Trump family's crypto ventures, World Liberty Financial, announced that one of its digital coins is being used by an Abu Dhabi investment firm for a $2 billion investment in cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Democratic lawmakers and crypto analysts said the deal was a conflict of interest that could earn World Liberty at least $27 million per year.
Meanwhile, Trump's administration has loosened regulation of the cryptocurrency industry and dismantled a Justice Department unit targeting crypto fraud.
Crypto isn’t Trump's only source of funds since returning to office. The president profits from real estate, his Truth Social platform and a range of branded merchandise, experts say.
[. . .]
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, ranking Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, told USA TODAY he’s launching an investigation into Trump’s profits as president.
Chump's made clear that he's okay with a recession. Wonder if he's okay, when he exists the White House, with a class action suit from Americans after he betrayed the country and destroyed our economy? And lied. Forever lied. Bringing jobs back to this country? Yelena Mandenberg (DAILY EXPRESS) notes, "President Trump has reportedly snapped up a lavish aircraft, previously owned by the Qatari government and once on the market for a cool $400 million, to serve as a stand-in for the 'aging Air Force One'."
The following sites updated:
-
-
-
-
Understanding Trump’s Budget Proposal16 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
df
