One of Donald Trump’s favorite selling points about his planned $600 million ballroom is its windows. According to the president, they’ll be “impenetrable,” with 5-inch-thick laminated glass.
That’s impressive, but nowhere near as fortified as the glass house Trump has built when it comes to corruption — a glass house that Republicans in Congress seem determined to let stand.
For decades, Trump and Republicans have pointed to the alleged corruption of Democratic lawmakers and their families.
But if corruption means using public office to enrich yourself, your family or your associates, then even the wildest Republican allegations about Democrats pale in comparison to what the president is doing openly today.
Let’s take one of their favorite targets: the Biden family.
Republicans have long accused Hunter Biden of influence peddling through his consulting work, board positions and even the sale of his artwork. Estimates suggest that businesses tied to Hunter Biden received roughly $11 million from 2013 through 2018. His art also sold for prices well above what most novice artists command. Objectively, not a great look.
Two years ago this month, Republicans on three House committees sent a letter to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland. Announcing an impeachment investigation into President Joe Biden, they wrote:
In total, since 2014, the Committees have accounted for over $35 million received by Biden family members, their companies, and business associates, which includes financial transactions described as loans. Despite much effort, the Committees have not identified legitimate services warranting such lucrative payments. The amount of money the Biden family has received from concerning companies and individuals is alarming.
The Bidens have repeatedly denied improperly using Joe Biden’s elected positions for personal enrichment, but for argument’s sake, let’s take the claim as true: that Biden family members, associates and businesses made $35 million over a decade.
If Republicans described that as “alarming,” we may need a new word for what we have learned about Trump’s corruption in recent weeks alone.
In May, some top-tier investigative reporting shed light on a $620 million loan from the Pentagon to a small North Carolina startup linked to Donald Trump Jr. The loan to Vulcan Elements — in which Trump Jr. has an undisclosed stake — was the only deal initiated by a top aide to the president, reported ProPublica, citing an official at the Pentagon who was not authorized to speak publicly. “The call came from the White House: We have to get this done,” the official reportedly said.
On Wednesday, Trump flew to North Dakota aboard a $400 million jet presented to him by the Qatari government. It was the culmination of a controversy that began over a year ago, when Trump’s announcement of the gift sparked widespread concern about foreign influence and corruption. Just weeks before it became public, the Trump Organization announced a deal to build a luxury golf resort in Qatar in “collaboration” with a Saudi company and a firm owned by the Qatari government.
On Tuesday, Trump’s mandatory financial disclosures showed he made $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency ventures alone in one year. That’s more than 34 times the wealth that House Republicans accused the Bidens and their businesses and their associates of taking a decade to make, and it’s in an industry that Trump — as president — has a major say in regulating.
On Sunday, The New York Times reported that Trump’s sons could profit from a $1 billion mining deal in Kazakhstan brokered by the federal government. What’s more, according to documents reviewed by the Times, Trump’s family and the family of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick combined have financial ties to at least 14 companies that are actively working with the federal government on critical mineral projects.
The White House insists that Trump has only the best interests of the American people at heart.
Trump’s White House has repeatedly denied that there’s anything unsavory happening, insisting that Trump has only the best interests of the American people at heart, and that there are no conflicts of interest.
Republicans launched years of investigations over allegations that members of the Biden family profited by tens of millions of dollars over the course of a decade. Yet when their own president openly reports billions in business income, accepts lavish gifts from foreign governments and sees his family’s business interests intersect with federal policy, congressional oversight all but disappears.
Maybe Donald Trump’s proverbial glass house isn’t that strong at all. Perhaps it would fall under a Congress with some stones.
Evan Brechtel contributed to this report.
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