 John,
Since the start of his first term, CREW has tracked Trump’s conflicts of interests and spent countless hours calculating his profits. At the end of his first term, we found that he made more than $1.6 billion in outside income during his four years in office. And a new tally from the New Yorker suggests that the total number from both of his terms is already $3.4 billion. Once upon a time, Barack Obama's $400,000 speaking fee and Hillary Clinton's $8 million book deal raised eyebrows—and that was when they were out of office. Now, this new analysis finds that President Trump has already made $3.4 billion during his presidencies. That's a stratospherically different level of profiting. Trump’s failure to divest from his businesses means he’s regularly in business with—and benefiting from—those who may want to influence his decision-making as president, like when he hosted wealthy investors who bought up his meme coin in a private dinner. The unethical behavior and dizzying scandals from his second term have added to Trump’s unprecedented amounts of corruption, and it’s unacceptable. If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your tax deductible donation will go through immediately to ActBlue Charities Inc. and be disbursed to CREW within 30 days:
Thank you for your support. If you have more time, please read my full op-ed below.
By Noah Bookbinder Donald Trump and his family are profiting off the presidency. This is something we’ve heard over and over since Trump’s first inauguration in January 2017. But I’ve heard it more than most — my organization, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), has spent countless hours tracking and calculating those profits. At the end of Trump’s first term, CREW calculated that Trump made more than $1.6 billion in outside revenue and income during his four years as president. Recently, however, The New Yorker staff writer David D. Kirkpatrick tallied up a new number, encompassing ventures from both Trump’s first and second terms: $3.4 billion. That is an astounding amount without any historical equivalent. But at the same time, it’s a new Trump normal. Of course, he’s using his public office for private gain. Of course, he’s launched another business venture. Don’t presidents get rich all the time? What’s the big deal? |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
