Trump’s onslaught on checks and balances is ushering in a new age of political corruption, experts warn

From telling the Justice Department to stop enforcing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to firing the head of the Office of Government Ethics, the new president’s actions have already raised alarms, writes Andrew Feinberg. In just a few days, Donald Trump appeared to lay waste to decades-long American efforts to crack down on public and private corruption within the U.S. and abroad with a series of actions that experts are calling a clear signal that malfeasance by politicians and corporate actors will be tolerated if not encouraged.

The onslaught began on Monday after California Senator Adam Schiff sent a letter to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Office of Government Ethics director David Huitema inquiring about whether billionaire Trump patron turned “Department of Government Efficiency” boss Elon Musk had complied with the federal conflict-of-interest and financial disclosure reporting requirements to which federal workers are bound.

Schiff noted that Musk’s status as an unpaid Special Government Employee — a part-time designation that nonetheless subjects the SpaceX and Tesla founder to federal ethics laws — grants him “access to sensitive government information” at the same time that Musk “retains significant financial interests in multiple private companies that benefit from federal government contracts.”. “Mr Musk’s activities, access to sensitive federal government information, and potential financial conflicts of interest also raise significant questions about Mr. Musk’s foreign entanglements and the activities and possible conflicts of other individuals associated with the ‘Department of Government Efficiency,’ which will be the focus of forthcoming requests for information and records that are needed for the U.S. Senate to exercise its essential oversight and legislative functions,” Schiff added.

The California Democrat received a rapid response, but not the one he was expecting. Within hours of receiving his letter, White House Personnel Office director Sergio Gor notified Huitema — who was confirmed to a five-year term heading the Office of Government Ethics late last year — that he was being removed from his position. The rapid defenestration of the executive branch’s top conflict-of-interest watchdog was just an opening salvo in what quickly escalated into a symbolic war on the concept of consequences for corruption.

Within a few hours, news broke that Trump’s former personal lawyer turned acting deputy attorney general had ordered the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York to drop the blockbuster bribery and public corruption case it had filed against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The memorandum from Justice Department headquarters stated that the decision to seek an indictment against Adams for allegedly taking illegal foreign campaign contributions in exchange for official acts had “unduly restricted Mayor Adams' ability to devote full attention and resources to ... illegal immigration and violent crime.”.

The unprecedented move came after months of work by Adams to curry favor from Trump by claiming that his prosecution was a consequence of criticizing the Biden administration’s immigration policies. And in the Oval Office later on Monday, Trump went even further by making two announcements as he signed related documents while reporters looked on. He pardoned disgraced ex-Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat turned Trump booster who’d been convicted of multiple felonies related to his attempt to sell the Senate seat vacated by former president Barack Obama after winning the 2008 presidential election.

But just before that, he dropped another bombshell by telling the press that he was effectively ordering the Department of Justice to stop enforcing a decades-old law, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits American corporations and individuals from bribing foreign government officials. Trump complained that the anti-corruption measure, which was signed into law by then-president Jimmy Carter in 1978, was a “disaster for this country” because “it made it very, very hard, from a practical standpoint, to make deals” overseas without violating the law, implying that bribes are expected to be a routine part of business, including for American companies.

“It hurts the country. And many, many deals are unable to be made because of it. Nobody wants to do business because they don’t want to feel like every time they pick up a phone, they’re going to jail,” he said. The move was immediately condemned by Democrats such as Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin, the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee. In a statement, Raskin said Trump’s actions amounted to “pulling the plug on prosecutions for bribery and other foreign corrupt practices” and predicted it would have the effect of “making bribery and corruption perfectly legal again.”.