Voters delivered their verdict on Tuesday, handing Democrats control of both the House and the Senate. Heading into Election Day, more voters said they were extremely concerned about government corruption than about inflation, and it’s easy to see why. Families are still stretched by high prices while the president and his family treat the government like their personal ATM. Trump has spent his first days after the midterm elections doing what he’s done all term: protecting the people who bankroll him and finding new ways to cash in before his time runs out. Trump spent the day before the election touting his botched, corrupt reflecting pool repairs, and the day after showing the press around his Ballroom construction zone, giving a sense of what will consume him for his last two years. This week’s roundup documents it all.
This Week in Corruption: A Pardon Promise for a Record-Breaking Donor, a $950 Million Monument, Windfalls for Trump’s Sons, and a Crypto Rescue
- Trump Offers Preemptive Pardons to Shield Musk, His Record-Breaking Donor, From Investigators: Days before the election, Trump said he would pardon Elon Musk and members of his team if Democrats won Congress and opened investigations. “I would not even think about it,” he said, pointing to his January 6 pardons as precedent. Musk has poured nearly half a billion dollars into the 2026 cycle, making him the largest disclosed donor in modern American history. His companies have collected $10 billion in government contracts and grants since he left DOGE, including a $5.9 billion Space Force contract for SpaceX and a $200 million Pentagon contract for xAI. Trump also left the door open to pardoning former DOGE staffer Edward Coristine.
- Trump Plans a Lame-Duck Cash Grab for His $950 Million “Library,” Which May Become a Hotel: With Congress lost, Trump is expected to spend his final two years focused on his presidential library – one of the last places he can shake people down for cash. The foundation, run by Eric Trump and son-in-law Michael Boulos, aims to raise $950 million by the end of 2027, and the money is pouring in from people with business before the president. SoftBank donated $50 million in January; a month later, the Energy Department signed a lease giving a SoftBank subsidiary federal land. Tens of millions more came from media and tech companies settling Trump’s lawsuits. Two top advisers donated their consulting fees for a pro-Russian party after Trump threatened to cut ties, and Trump has said his former lawyer Alina Habba should hand over part of the $50 million-plus contract she secured from the family of a billionaire he later pardoned. Anyone who wants something from this president now knows exactly where to send the check.
- Trump’s Sons Profit as Federal Funding and Presidential Promotion Boost Their Investments: Kaz Resources, a Kazakhstan mining company in which Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump hold a stake, plans to go public next year in a proposed $2 billion deal. Two federal finance agencies have issued letters of interest for up to $1.6 billion in financing, after the brothers reportedly secured their investment days before Trump and Kazakhstan’s president announced the mining deal. Meanwhile, Powerus, a drone startup backed by the brothers, has grown from $5.7 million in assets to a $300 million business in months. After Trump praised its co-founder on Truth Social, a fund backed by the Trump sons led a $26 million investment in the golf-course company Powerus used to go public. Powerus then landed an Air Force contract worth up to $90 million. Presidential promotion and taxpayer backing follow the sons’ investments.
- Trump Family Crypto Firm Taps Stablecoin Income to Prop Up Its Sinking Token, Then Cites UAE Ties to Escape a Fraud Suit: World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture in which the Trump family holds a 38% stake, launched a buyback program for its WLFI token on Thursday. The company is funding the buyback partly with revenue from the reserves backing its USD1 stablecoin. The token has fallen more than 60% this year, including roughly 10% since the midterms. That same week, investor Justin Sun, who sank $45 million into the company’s tokens, asked a federal court to sanction World Liberty for waiting months to reveal that its ownership structure grants it UAE citizenship, a detail that could push his lawsuit out of federal court. The Trump family profits from selling and using these tokens, and now the stablecoin reserves tied to the president are propping them up.
The pattern couldn’t be clearer: week after week, Trump and his allies treat the federal government as a tool for self-enrichment – burying accountability, rewarding friends with taxpayer money, and cutting deals that prioritize personal profit over national security. Want to follow and share these stories in real time? Follow Trump Affordability Campaign on X or Bluesky