Foreign Gifts and the Emoluments Clause
On May 21, 2025, the Pentagon officially accepted a Boeing 747-8 luxury jetliner from the government of Qatar. The plane, valued at roughly $400 million, is one of the largest foreign gifts ever received by the U.S. government. The administration says it will be retrofitted as a new Air Force One, at an additional cost that experts estimate could reach $1 billion. The Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause bars public officeholders from accepting “any present” from a foreign state without congressional consent. Congress did not consent. Trump told reporters he would be “stupid” to refuse the offer. What the Emoluments Clause bans, and why no court has enforced it.
That same spring, Trump hosted an exclusive dinner at his golf club near Washington with the top 220 holders of his $TRUMP memecoin. The top holder was Justin Sun, a crypto entrepreneur and founder of the TRON blockchain, who also held a significant stake in the Trump family’s crypto venture. Ethics experts said the dinner raised direct emoluments concerns: foreign nationals were paying for access to the president through a financial instrument the president’s family controlled. And four days before Trump returned to office in January 2025, his family’s company World Liberty Financial struck a deal with Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s national security adviser. The deal routed $187 million to Trump family entities in exchange for an ownership stake. By March 2026, Forbes estimated Trump had netted $550 million from token sales alone. Each is a reported transaction involving named foreign officials, documented dollar amounts, and financial instruments the president’s family owns and profits from.
The Trump Family’s Business Gains in Office
On January 20, 2025, Donald Trump took the oath of office for the second time without divesting from his business interests. No blind trust. No divestiture plan. Between inauguration day and January 2026, his personal net worth nearly doubled, from $3.9 billion to $7.3 billion, according to Forbes. Eric Trump went from roughly $40 million to $400 million. Donald Trump Jr. went from $50 million to $300 million. The House Oversight Committee Democrats maintain a tracker of Trump family business deals during the second term. The sources include crypto ventures with foreign government investors, a memecoin that lets anyone in the world buy financial proximity to the president, and licensing deals in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Bloomberg reported that digital assets now account for roughly one-fifth of the Trump family fortune, about $1.5 billion in total value. CREW has documented more than 3,400 conflicts of interest in Trump’s second term so far. These include visits by foreign officials to Trump properties and events held by foreign governments at Trump-branded venues.
The January 2025 Inspector General Firings
On the night of January 24, 2025, the White House emailed termination notices to at least 17 inspectors general across cabinet-level agencies. The notices cited “changing priorities” and offered no case-specific explanation. Congress received no 30-day notice and no written rationale. Federal law requires the president to notify Congress 30 days before removing an inspector general and to give substantive reasons. On September 24, 2025, federal judge Ana C. Reyes ruled the firings were unlawful. But she declined to reinstate them, reasoning that the president could remove them again after giving the required notice.
”Donald Trump’s decision to fire 12 of the federal government’s independent watchdogs is a glaring sign that it’s a Golden Age for corruption and abuse in government.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate floor remarksInspectors general are designed to operate independently, investigate their own agencies, and report findings to Congress. CREW has been tracking these firings and their consequences in real time.
The Ethics Office Went Through Four Leaders in 2025
Two weeks after the inspector general firings, the White House removed David Huitema as director of the Office of Government Ethics. Huitema had been confirmed by the Senate just two months earlier, in November 2024, and began his term in December. He was notified by email from the Presidential Personnel Office over a weekend. OGE directors serve five-year terms specifically to insulate them from political pressure. Until 2025, no president had ever removed a sitting OGE director. Trump did it within weeks of taking office. Huitema told reporters he was unaware of any specific action that prompted his removal. “My sense is that the president doesn’t want OGE or really anyone with an independent voice to address concerns that are raised,” he said. By the end of 2025, four different people had held the top position at OGE, which CREW described as a revolving door. The Office of Government Ethics reviews financial disclosures and identifies conflicts of interest.
The 2025 Pause in Foreign Bribery Enforcement
On February 10, 2025, Trump signed an executive order titled “Pausing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement to Further American Economic and National Security.” The order directed the DOJ to halt FCPA investigations and enforcement for 180 days. It was the first pause of FCPA enforcement since the law was enacted in 1977. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes it illegal for American companies to bribe foreign officials. The administration argued that “overexpansive and unpredictable” enforcement created “an uneven playing field” for American businesses. The new guidelines, issued in June 2025, redirected enforcement toward protecting “U.S. economic interests” rather than prosecuting bribery.
SEC Enforcement Since 2025
The SEC dropped or paused nearly 60% of its crypto-related cases after Trump took office, including actions against Justin Sun, the top holder of Trump’s memecoin. Public Citizen’s Corporate Enforcement Tracker documents the scale: the administration has canceled or frozen enforcement actions against more than 170 corporations, allowing at least 18 companies to avoid a combined $3.1 billion in penalties. Senator Elizabeth Warren pressed SEC Chair Paul Atkins on the enforcement chief’s sudden resignation and the lack of enforcement data. House Financial Services Committee Democrats described it as a “pay-to-play” arrangement in which crypto industry donations to Trump coincided with the dismissal of their cases.
Congressional Oversight in the Current Congress
In the current Congress, Democrats lack subpoena power. Ranking Member Jamie Raskin and other House Democrats on the Oversight Committee have issued letters and published trackers. Senate Democrats on the Judiciary Committee have begun coordinating potential investigations for the next Congress. The 2026 midterms will determine whether this changes. If Democrats win the House, oversight committees gain subpoena power and the ability to compel testimony. If they win the Senate, committee chairs control which hearings are held.
If the Midterms Flip the House
Oversight committees gain subpoena power. The Qatari jet, crypto deals with foreign officials, inspector general firings, and OGE dismantling all become subjects of compelled testimony and document production. Public hearings put the $1.4 billion in presidential gains on the record under oath.
If the Current Majority Holds
No subpoenas, no compelled testimony, no public hearings on conflicts of interest. The 3,400+ documented conflicts continue without congressional investigation. The administration enters its final two years without committee subpoenas on these questions.
What You Can Do About Government Ethics
- Follow the money. CREW’s conflicts of interest tracker and Public Citizen’s corporate enforcement tracker are the best public resources for staying informed. Bookmark them and share them.
- Know where your representatives stand. Ask your member of Congress directly: do they support restoring the fired inspectors general? Do they support an independent OGE director? Will they vote to investigate the Qatar jet?
- Support the organizations doing the work. CREW, Public Citizen, and the Campaign Legal Center are filing the lawsuits and forcing disclosures that would otherwise stay hidden. They cannot do it without public support.
- Vote in the midterms. Congressional oversight only works when Congress wants to use it. The 2026 midterms on November 3 will determine whether committees have the power to subpoena records, compel testimony, and hold public hearings. Register at vote.gov and confirm your status now.
Last updated June 4, 2026