The Department of Justice’s nearly $1.8 billion fund for so-called “victims” of government weaponization isn’t Donald Trump’s only sleazy scheme.
The Daily Beast’s Joanna Coles and Hugh Dougherty, on a new episode of The Daily Beast Podcast, delved into what the establishment of that largely unregulated, taxpayer-funded commission overshadowed this week: the president’s stock trades.
In what MS NOW anchor Rachel Maddow described as “kaleidoscopically corrupt,” Trump, 79, made tens of millions of dollars through more than 3,700 investment trades in the first quarter of this year. Trump, who disclosed his trades late, also talked up companies he had a substantial stake in. Neither Barack Obama nor Joe Biden traded stocks while president.
“The volume and the value of those trades are actually more than the total value of all the stock trading by every member of Congress at the same time put together,” Dougherty said. “And obviously, some members of Congress don’t trade, but [others] trade quite a lot. But that total value is... extraordinary. It’s actually hard to get your head around it.”
Coles agreed, saying it was “particularly ironic” given Trump’s criticism of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s activity in that area.
“It’s just remarkable,” she said. “And I saw JD Vance sort of brushing away criticism by saying, ‘Of course, Donald Trump is not sitting at the Cabinet table with his Robin Hood account open, you know, trading’—as if that were the accusation. The accusation is much deeper and much, much more troubling.”
“If I were a Republican candidate or a politician, I would just be irate at the way he steamrolled them,” Coles continued. “I mean, there are reasons to be irate with the Democrats right now, but the Republicans must just feel like they are some kind of paper—not even tiger, but just pointless. I mean, pointless to be a Republican, either congressman or senator at this point, unless they can actually offer something, offer something concrete, because he’s steamrolling over everybody.”
Trump is “making out like a bandit,“ Doughtery added, noting how Trump’s net worth is currently $6.1 billion, according to Forbes, while in 2021 it was $2.4 billion.
“If anybody has made out being in elected office, this is it. Nobody in elected office has ever seen their net worth go up by such an amount in such a short time,” he continued.
The White House disputes concerns about conflicts of interest.
“Anything said on The Daily Beast Podcast is equivalent to screaming into the void. No one listens to this Trump Derangement Syndrome therapy session,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said, despite the podcast regularly garnering hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube alone.
“This is the same, tired narrative that Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family, and his administration for a decade,” Kelly continued. “President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public—which is why they overwhelmingly reelected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media. There are no conflicts of interest.”
As for the $1.776 billion fund, it is accessible to “the worst of the worst” of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists, Doughtery pointed out, citing cop-assaulters and other violent offenders. It is also open to Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, Trumpworld figures who each defied a congressional subpoena and went to jail because of it.
Enrique Tarrio, a convicted seditionist and former Proud Boys leader, indicated he will request money as well.
As part of the arrangement between Trump and the DOJ, which is now being overseen by the president’s former personal lawyer Todd Blanche, there will be no more audits of the president, his family, or his companies—a stunning outcome given that the Trump Organization was found guilty of tax fraud in 2022, and how Trump, his two adult sons, and the company were found responsible in a civil suit for repeatedly committing fraud.
“So, as this week has gone on, Joanna, it has gotten more and more obvious quite how jaw-dropping this is,” Dougherty said.
Congressional Republicans even made an affront to Trump over it by holding up an ICE funding bill he desperately wants passed. On Thursday, as many as 25 lawmakers reportedly had an “incredibly hostile” meeting with acting Blanche, who has the authority to appoint members of the commission that distributes money in the fund.
New episodes of The Daily Beast Podcast are released every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday on YouTube, and on other podcast platforms the next morning. Follow our new feed on your favorite podcast platform at beast.pub/dailybeastpod and subscribe on YouTube to watch full episodes.
