Millions of Americans struggling with the rising cost of living have watched prices climb on everything from groceries and petrol to healthcare. Many have also been acutely aware that some of their fellow citizens appear to be profiting handsomely from the current political climate.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, the House of Representatives’ powerful investigative panel, have maintained a running tally of what they say amounts to billions of dollars in wealth accumulated by Donald Trump and his family through “digital grift schemes… collecting profits through digital wallets and granting pardons to the highest bidders”.
By Wednesday, the alleged proceeds had reached almost $4.5 billion (£3.3 billion), according to the Democrats’ calculations.
After Democrats sensationally regained control of both the House and Senate, the committee’s incoming chairman, Robert Garcia, delivered a stark message to the embarrassed President.
“LAWYER UP,” he said.
In the run-up to Tuesday’s seismic midterm elections, corruption ranked among voters’ leading concerns in several polls.
Democrats have made clear that they intend to examine allegations of self-enrichment involving Trump, his family and his political allies in exhaustive detail.
Only last week, Garcia promised: “On DAY ONE we are going to take on the most corrupt family ever to occupy the White House.”
Democrats have made clear that they intend to examine allegations of self-enrichment involving Trump, his family and his political allies in exhaustive detail, writes Tom Leonard
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, expected to become Speaker of the House, promised to “hold the crooks accountable”
After Democrats dramatically regained both chambers of Congress, incoming Oversight Committee chairman Robert Garcia (pictured last year) issued a blunt warning to the President: “LAWYER UP”
Criminal charges could follow, with Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic Speaker-elect of the House, pledging to “hold the crooks accountable”.
The investigations could also result in impeachment proceedings against members of Trump’s administration and potentially the President himself. Impeachment is the constitutional process for removing public officials over “high crimes and misdemeanours”.
Trump faced two impeachment attempts during his first administration, but neither succeeded because Republicans controlled the Senate, where conviction requires a two-thirds majority.
The balance of power has now shifted to the Democrats. Trump reportedly predicted during a pre-election meeting with House Republicans that he would be impeached, although he has said he would consider issuing pre-emptive pardons to himself and his aides.
So what, exactly, do Democrats intend to investigate?
Their targets include the Trump family’s substantial cryptocurrency profits; the administration’s continued refusal to release all federal records relating to the late paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein; pardons granted to wealthy criminals and Maga loyalists; alleged conflicts involving Middle East envoys Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and Steve Witkoff; and Trump’s expensive building projects in Washington.
They also plan to examine numerous policies they oppose but which do not necessarily involve corruption, including immigration enforcement, the conduct of the Iran war and the administration’s trade tariffs.
The Trump family recently acknowledged that a weekend “wedding party” for the President’s son, Donald Jr (pictured), was partly funded by a Russian oligarch reportedly close to the Kremlin
Trump’s opponents have sought answers on these issues for months. Until now, however, their efforts were largely dismissed because Republicans controlled Congress.
With control of both chambers, Democrats will have more investigators at their disposal. They will also be able to subpoena documents and compel witnesses to testify.
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Fresh questions are emerging almost daily. The Trump family recently acknowledged, for example, that a weekend “wedding party” for Donald Jr was partly financed by a Russian oligarch reportedly known to have close ties to the Kremlin.
“What’s shocking to me is not only that this administration, cabinet officials and even the President and his family have been corrupt and self-dealing, but they’ve been so brazen and open about it,” Suhas Subramanyam, a member of the House Oversight Committee, said on Wednesday.
Many voters appear to share that view, although the White House has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
During Trump’s first term, criticism intensified after it emerged that foreign governments, US officials and others connected to his administration had spent millions of dollars, including American taxpayer money, on rooms and meals at hotels owned by the Trump Organization.
Opponents now argue that those arrangements pale in comparison with the alleged profiteering since Trump’s re-election in 2024. While the Trump Organization promised to suspend foreign deals during his first term, it has since lined up a series of multimillion-dollar projects around the world.
The blending of public office and private gain is intended to be restricted by the US Constitution’s “emoluments” clause. It says Congress must approve any gift from a “king, prince or foreign state” to an elected US official, including the President.
Trump has drawn particular scrutiny for his support of the cryptocurrency industry. Wealthy crypto investors contributed heavily to his election campaign, while Trump promised to reduce regulation and make the United States the “crypto capital of the world”.
Within days of taking office, he controversially pardoned Ross Ulbricht, a jailed cyber-crime pioneer who created a marketplace on the “dark web”, which cannot be accessed through ordinary browsers.
Trump also launched his own cryptocurrency, the $TRUMP “meme coin”, which generated several billion dollars in paper wealth for him. The coin later plunged in value, leaving some investors with heavy losses. The First Lady’s “$MELANIA” coin also fell sharply.
Trump and his sons—Donald Jr, Eric and Barron—were also closely involved in World Liberty Financial, a crypto company launched four months before he entered office.
Democrats want to scrutinise a reported deal allegedly reached just four days before the inauguration. Under the arrangement, a member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling royal family in the UAE secretly bought a 49 per cent stake in World Liberty Financial for about $500 million. Nearly half of that sum allegedly went to the Trump and Steve Witkoff families.
Several months later, the Trump administration approved $1.4 billion (£1 billion) in arms sales and the sale of 35,000 advanced artificial-intelligence chips to the UAE, despite national security concerns, Democrats say.
The White House and World Liberty have denied any connection between the investment and the chip sale. Witkoff has also denied wrongdoing.
Trump’s official financial disclosures, released in June, showed that he had received more than $2.2 billion (£1.6 billion) in income the previous year, including $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency. He maintained that there was “nothing illegal” about the earnings, but Democrats said they wanted to investigate further.
Opponents also want to examine how another wealthy Middle Eastern petrostate, Qatar, came to donate a $400 million (£295 million) Boeing 747-8 to the administration for use as Air Force One.
Democrats have been asking since 2023 how Jared Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, manages potential conflicts between his role as an informal foreign policy adviser to Trump and his position as head of a private equity firm that does business with foreign governments. They also want to establish how and why Kushner’s firm received a $2 billion (£1.5 billion) investment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund soon after Trump left the White House in 2021.
Democrats are further seeking answers about how several defence and technology companies backed by Donald Jr and Eric Trump secured billions of dollars in federal contracts.
Before returning to office, Trump promised to release all government files connected to his longtime paedophile associate Jeffrey Epstein without redactions.
Instead, millions of pages and emails were withheld or extensively redacted. Republicans and Democrats alike have sought to subpoena administration witnesses to explain why so much material remains unavailable.
There are now countless questions, and Trump has two more years as a lame-duck President in which to address them. His long-promised refurbishment of the White House may have to wait while he gets his lawyers on the phone.