356 - The Collapse of Integrity: Corruption Pollutes Washington

Neutering the Emoluments Clause

The press headline says it all: "FBI Dismantles Elite Public Corruption Squad." With Trumpian logic, the FBI has scrapped the section that for decades has investigated fraud by Congresspersons and federal employees. Public corruption either no longer occurs or the Trumpers fear that investigators will unmask their cascading brazen abuses of the public trust.

Either way, the FBI will no longer be able to lead major probes into cases such as the prosecution of a president for stealing and concealing federal documents or thefts by our elected representatives. There will be no staff (the anti-corruption bureau now has six instead of twenty-four employees) to see if dabbling in crypto currency sales or inviting fat cats to pay for dinners with the president cross ethical lines. Senators will be able to take bribes (think gold bars) and presidents to receive lavish aircraft without fear of being questioned by well-schooled and highly trained FBI special agents.

The FBI unit being dissolved took the lead in jailing lobbyists who paid elected representatives and senators to skew legislation in their favor. It was responsible, too, for investigating those persons who attempted to overthrow the verified results of the 2020 presidential election.

Without the skills and experience of the FBI, it will now be harder to unearth and prosecute corporate corruption overseas. Trump wants that capability neutered because, as he says, removing the threat of jail from American businessmen bribing abroad enhances American competitive commercial advantage. "It's going to mean a lot more business for America," he said recently.

That was also his reason, ostensibly, for scaling back enforcement of the strict provisions of the U. S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA), as amended and strengthened in 1988 and 1998. Trump is now permitting American oil companies to seek mining and other exploitative concessions abroad through bribery, thus being officially allowed to act as sleazily as they might want and to contribute significantly to the spread of corruption and kleptocracy throughout a world that was ever so slowly ridding itself of corrupt dealings.

The FCPA initiative, enforced tightly by the U.S. from 2005 to this year, serves as a legislative model for Canada, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, and other countries that, relatively recently, enacted their own bans on foreign corrupt practices. As a result, the spread of kleptocracy has been curtailed. Trump's actions will now open the sluice gates once again; governments, their leaders, and their entrepreneurs will all resume selling portions of national hegemonies to the highest bidders. Citizens in poor countries will be the losers dictators pocket bribes from abroad. Shame!

Our national reputation for probity has deteriorated dramatically since Trump took high office once again. By showing his disdain for honest dealings and accountability he has run afoul of the Constitution and removed any reputational and soft power advantages we once had as a nation. Why should others support us in the UN, over Ukraine, or in other disputes, if we have allowed ourselves to be reduced to an advantage-grubbing transactional large country that pays no respect to our own laws or to international treaties and agreements?

Already, the Trump administration has shuttered a host of longstanding barriers to corruption. To be absolutely clear, the accepted definition of corruption is abusing public office for private gain. Additionally, the U.S. Constitution specifically prohibits presidents from gaining financially by accepting gifts of any kind and any value from foreign countries, governments, or individuals without the permission of Congress. The emolument clause of Article I/9 is very specific: It expressly forbids the president from accepting a present or emolument — a benefit, or anything of value — from a foreign government without permission from Congress.

Thus, the public appalls Trump's decision to welcome a free Boeing 747-800 aircraft from Qatar despite the emoluments clause, despite the obvious conflict of interest with the golf course his firm is developing in that Persian Gulf country, and despite his attorney general's long-standing highly paid lobbying for Qatar.

But even more egregious in many ways is the manner in which Trump and his family are profiting from the sale of stable crypto coins, not to mention influence. Senator Margaret Chase Smith chided Sen. Joseph McCarthy with "have you no shame." But Trump is shameless, comparing his obvious self-dealing maneuvers and personal gains of fortune from the presidency with his lack of "stupidity," rather than his total absence of integrity.

Trump personally profits handsomely along with his sons when the United Arab Emirates' venture capital fund invests $2 billion in Trump's World Liberty Financial's stablecoin, an instrument pegged to the U.S. dollar. He also gains when he gives top purchasers of his $Trump meme access to him at private dinners. Large buyers of the coin (which give's Trump's firm cash on each transaction) also can buy a private White House tour! Even Melania Trump has her own meme coin.

Further he and his sons have cooked up a scheme to open an "Executive Club" in Washington. For a mere $500,000 you can join and secure access to the bigwigs in the administration. As a New York Times columnist wrote yesterday, these kinds of pay-to-play stunts are "far more brazen than anything else we’ve seen in American history."

This is not to ignore the autocratic investments with Trump's son-in-law and the many pardons of convicted corrupt politicians that the president has issued: one ex-governor and three ex-Republican Congressmen. He has further decreed that legislation mandating that the true names of owners of shell companies, American and foreign (think Russian oligarchs) need not be enforced. Dirty money now prevails.

The Supreme Court has participated, too. In 2016, in McDonnell v U.S. it said that Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell had been wrongly convicted by lower courts: the Court said tat he did not deliver an "official act" in exchange for taking what might be considered bribes from developers.

That decision seemed like an aberration even though the Court earlier, in Citizen's United v the Federal Election Commission (2010) had interpreted corporate gifts to politicians as permitted speech and thus allowed private entities to spend wildly on elections, totally upending the way - legislatively -- such expenditures had hitherto been limited. It granted personhood to corporations.

Official Washington no longer cares for honesty. Instead, Trump is trying to open up the long shut gates so that he and his family can profit, but also because he welcomes no barriers to self-enrichment. Trump believes that profits and greed should guide his White House, should determine who we aid and favor, and should skew in the direction of those wealthy individuals who can pay for the privilege of joining him in profiteering.

By abandoning integrity, the U.S. more and more resembles a banana republic run by and for the benefit of a leading family. Unless the Supreme Court shows unexpected backbone, state capture will become real, the rot will percolate in everywhere, and every excess that our founding fathers sought to prevent will consume what is left of our once vaunted democracy.