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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Trump’s Scandals, a List | Trump’s Scandals, a List |
| (8 days later) | |
| Updated Oct. 11, 2017 | |
| The list of Trump scandals keeps growing. | |
| “Amid the chaos and dysfunction,” Slate’s Jamelle Bouie writes, “it can be easy to miss that this White House is corrupt. Remarkably, unbelievably, corrupt.” Given the number of potential scandals involving personal enrichment — of President Trump, his family or top administration officials — I wanted to create a list of all the major ones. Here goes: | “Amid the chaos and dysfunction,” Slate’s Jamelle Bouie writes, “it can be easy to miss that this White House is corrupt. Remarkably, unbelievably, corrupt.” Given the number of potential scandals involving personal enrichment — of President Trump, his family or top administration officials — I wanted to create a list of all the major ones. Here goes: |
| • The presidency is benefiting Trump’s business in numerous ways. Government officials have stayed in hotels that bear Trump’s name, for example, while Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club doubled its membership rates after he won the White House. | • The presidency is benefiting Trump’s business in numerous ways. Government officials have stayed in hotels that bear Trump’s name, for example, while Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club doubled its membership rates after he won the White House. |
| Also: Eric Trump has been giving his father quarterly updates on the financial health of his businesses, despite promises that the president would have no involvement. Those businesses have also done deals with foreign governments, despite the president’s pledge that they wouldn’t. | Also: Eric Trump has been giving his father quarterly updates on the financial health of his businesses, despite promises that the president would have no involvement. Those businesses have also done deals with foreign governments, despite the president’s pledge that they wouldn’t. |
| • Trump has spent more than $30 million of taxpayer money traveling to properties he owns, by one estimate. | • Trump has spent more than $30 million of taxpayer money traveling to properties he owns, by one estimate. |
| • Ryan Zinke, Trump’s secretary of the interior, is under investigation for chartering a $12,000 flight from Las Vegas to Montana at taxpayers’ expense. | • Ryan Zinke, Trump’s secretary of the interior, is under investigation for chartering a $12,000 flight from Las Vegas to Montana at taxpayers’ expense. |
| • David Shulkin, the secretary of Veterans Affairs, charged taxpayers for a trip to Europe that included stopovers at Wimbledon and Westminster Abbey, plus a river cruise for him and his wife. | • David Shulkin, the secretary of Veterans Affairs, charged taxpayers for a trip to Europe that included stopovers at Wimbledon and Westminster Abbey, plus a river cruise for him and his wife. |
| • Scott Pruitt, who runs the Environmental Protection Agency, regularly dines with donors and lobbyists from industries his department is regulating. He also used public money to pay for a soundproof booth in his office and chartered private and military overseas flights. | • Scott Pruitt, who runs the Environmental Protection Agency, regularly dines with donors and lobbyists from industries his department is regulating. He also used public money to pay for a soundproof booth in his office and chartered private and military overseas flights. |
| • Steve Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, tried to use a government plane to fly him to Europe for his honeymoon. He may also have availed himself of a taxpayer-funded military plane to view the solar eclipse in August, though he says the trip had a different purpose. | • Steve Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, tried to use a government plane to fly him to Europe for his honeymoon. He may also have availed himself of a taxpayer-funded military plane to view the solar eclipse in August, though he says the trip had a different purpose. |
| The Treasury Department’s inspector general concluded in October that Mnuchin broke no laws when he spent $800,000 to travel on military planes. But the inspector general also criticized Mnuchin’s insufficient explanation for why he needed to spend so much taxpayer money. “What is of concern is a disconnect between the standard of proof called for,” the inspector general wrote, “and the actual amount of proof provided by Treasury and accepted by the White House in justifying these trip requests.” | |
| • Tom Price, the former secretary of health and human services who resigned in September, spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on private planes. Trump hired Price despite Price’s history of using his position in Congress to receive sweetheart stock deals. | |
| • Despite Trump’s spending only eight days in Trump Tower as president so far, the government has spent $130,000 per month since April to lease space in the building for a military office that supports the White House. | |
| • Jared Kushner has reportedly used his closeness with Trump to secure foreign investment in Kushner’s family-owned business, in exchange for granting visas. | • Jared Kushner has reportedly used his closeness with Trump to secure foreign investment in Kushner’s family-owned business, in exchange for granting visas. |
| • A Chinese government office approved trademarks for a company owned by Ivanka Trump on the same day that China’s president met with President Trump. | • A Chinese government office approved trademarks for a company owned by Ivanka Trump on the same day that China’s president met with President Trump. |
| • Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, may have used his position to curry favor with a Russian oligarch. | |
| • Michael Flynn lobbied on behalf of the Turkish government, but Trump selected him as national security adviser anyway (before later ousting him). | • Michael Flynn lobbied on behalf of the Turkish government, but Trump selected him as national security adviser anyway (before later ousting him). |
| • Kellyanne Conway, a top Trump adviser, promoted Ivanka’s fashion line on television. | |
| • As The New Yorker, ProPublica and the public radio station WNYC reported, longtime Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz donated or solicited more than $50,000 on behalf of a Manhattan district attorney who later dropped a case against Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. | |
| • And there are likely some scandals we don’t know about because, unlike other modern presidents and candidates, Trump has refused to release his tax returns. | |
| If you think the list above is incomplete, and I assume it is, email me at leonhardt@nytimes. | If you think the list above is incomplete, and I assume it is, email me at leonhardt@nytimes. |
| This article was previously part of the Opinion Today newsletter. You can sign up here to receive more briefings and a guide to the section daily in your inbox. | |