Corruption - Trump's most sensitive point before the midterms?

Before the midterms, corruption - Trump's most sensitive point? As of: October 22, 2026 • 9:48 p.m

One issue is gaining traction among U.S. voters ahead of the midterm elections - and it's particularly sensitive for President Trump. More and more citizens are registering how much the fortunes of Trump and those around him have grown.

Lisa Gilbert is one of the most prominent voices in the fight against political corruption in the USA. The co-chair of the civil rights organization Public Citizen says that money has always played a major role in US politics and that corruption has not only existed since Donald Trump. But at the same time she emphasizes: "Under Trump the problem has worsened and become bigger than anything we've seen before."

On the one hand, there is the accusation that Trump is using the presidency to accumulate additional wealth for himself and his private environment. On the other hand, Trump is accused of securing political favors from donors at home or abroad.

Trump has earned $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency transactions alone since the start of his second term, Gilbert said. Mark Hays, financial expert at the civil rights organization Demand Progress, explains how these profits come about using an example: "One of the big deals was the deal between the Trump-affiliated company World Liberty Financial and the United Arab Emirates."

According to him, the Emirates have invested two billion dollars in a cryptocurrency circulated by the Trump-affiliated company. The value of the currency skyrocketed overnight. And according to Hays, there was something in return: the Trump administration relaxed export and licensing rules in favor of the Emirates.

Since the start of his second term, Trump has made lucrative deals in the crypto industry. more

Estimates of how many billions the president's and his private entourage's wealth has actually increased vary widely. Democrats on the Congressional Control Committee have calculated the highest sum: If you take Trump's digital assets, real estate deals and other deals together, the total since the start of his second term in office is $9.7 billion. This number cannot be proven exactly.

The White House rejects all allegations and asserts that the president is acting solely in the interests of the country. Corruption experts like Mark Hays see it differently. For them there is a long list of actual or assumed cash flows and considerations - for example, the jumbo jet donated by Qatar, which Trump now uses as his presidential plane, Air Force One. Or real estate deals in several countries in the Gulf region - from companies linked to either Trump himself, his son-in-law Jared Kushner or his long-time confidante Steve Witkoff.

For Mark Hays, one thing is certain: "The president doesn't just give himself and his friends financial advantages. He makes deals at the expense of national interests in favor of his own family interests."

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Lisa Gilbert, co-chair of the civil rights organization Public Citizen, cites other examples of questionable behavior by Trump. The president pardoned a number of convicted criminals or reduced their sentences after large sums of money flowed to political organizing committees close to Trump's Republicans. “We need a reform of the pardon law,” demands Gilbert. The same applies here: proving connections in a court of law remains difficult.

From Gilbert's point of view, money is also the reason why Trump denies the climate crisis. For the corruption expert, this is about large sums of money flowing from the oil and gas industry as campaign donations to Trump and his Republicans: "That's behind all the bad decisions that are being made in the area of ​​climate change."

That's why Trump rolled back the stricter emissions standards for the auto industry and canceled subsidies for wind power and other renewable energies. "As an oil company, you don't like wind turbines. Unfortunately, that's the direct connection," says Gilbert.

Zhao is also said to have close ties to the Trump family. Now the US President has pardoned him. more

One of the politicians who is pushing for stricter laws in all of these areas is Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse. The US Senator from the state of Rhode Island speaks of a “climate denial fraud operation” and a parallel “corruption machine through party donations”.

However, with regard to his own party, he adds: The Democrats have also done far too little to combat personal enrichment and corruption. "We've been so weak on this issue that voters don't know whether Democrats are any better than Republicans," Whitehouse said at an anti-corruption conference in Washington.

US President Trump has declared greenhouse gases to be unproblematic - and thereby overturned the central legal basis for climate laws in the USA. more

Shortly before the congressional midterm elections, however, the mood seems to be turning more and more against President Trump and his Republicans. The AP news agency published a survey according to which 59 percent of Americans believe that Trump is more interested in his own profit than in the well-being of his citizens.

41 percent of the representative respondents classify their president's behavior as illegal, and another 18 percent as at least unethical. According to a survey by the television channel Fox News, corruption has moved to number one on the list of issues that voters are worried about - ahead of inflation and gasoline prices.

This topic in the program: NDR Info | News | Oct 22, 2026 | 01:15 am