Memo
Trump Accountability Phase II: Exposing the Power Grabs and Backroom Deals Costing You
To: Interested Parties
From: Tony Carrk, Executive Director, Accountable.US
Date: March 18, 2025
Re: Accountable.US Launches Phase Two of Trump Accountability Campaign Focused on Administration’s Unprecedented and Rampant Abuses of Power
In just over 60 days, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their Administration have done years’ worth of damage to our economy, our democracy, and wreaked havoc on everyday families. It is no surprise the American people are souring on Donald Trump’s handling of the economy since his actions are sending the stock market plunging, driving up grocery prices, squeezing American companies and farmers with industry-stunting tariffs, threatening essential programs hard-working families rely on like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid – all to pay for more tax giveaways for his billionaire donors and friends.
At the same time, Donald Trump has gutted our checks and balances, fired independent watchdog inspectors generals in charge of making sure taxpayers’ money is spent wisely, installed cronies in key law enforcement agencies to carry out his political retribution instead of standing up for the rule of law, and used chaos and ‘‘government efficiency” to mask his true agenda of making the government work on behalf of himself, his donors, and big corporations. Republicans in Congress have been complicit, showing little appetite to stand up for the American people.
The scale of destruction and damage has been staggering.
President Trump made no secret this was his plan. That is why right after he won in 2024, Accountable.US launched the Trump Accountability War Room to make clear the harmful consequences and betrayal to hardworking families of his administration. Phase One of our efforts focused on Trump’s nominees – how the people he was putting in charge had serious conflicts of interests and were not on your side.
Today, Accountable.US is launching Phase Two of our accountability program that will zero in on the abuses of power within Trump’s White House and Administration, and how this extraordinary corruption and grift is making life harder and more expensive for regular Americans. This strategy will be informed by public opinion research showing that Americans remain deeply concerned about Trump and his cronies’ efforts to enrich themselves, and importantly, how it’s coming at a cost to the American people.
Since taking office, Trump, Musk, and Administration officials have engaged in shocking conflicts of interest and bent the federal government to serve themselves and their businesses, while using DOGE as a trojan horse for devastating cuts to Americans’ benefits like health care and veterans’ services. Driving that connection – between corruption and self-enrichment, and higher costs or cuts to programs that Americans rely on – is one that our research and many other outside groups’ have found is the most compelling way to break through to Americans about this Administration. For example, when Trump and Musk make deep cuts to Veterans’ jobs, benefits, and health care, while also making it easier for their billionaire friends to cheat on their taxes and avoid paying their fair share, that raises alarm bells among Americans.
Recent polling from Accountable.US and our partners showed that the majority of Americans believe Republicans are more likely to use the government for “personal financial gain,” with other surveys showing the opposition to DOGE becomes more visceral as the harms of the Administration become more real.
Now, Phase Two of the War Room will dive even deeper into the corruption of Trump cabinet officials: keeping close watch on their actions in their official capacity, calling out misconduct when it happens, and critically, highlighting the direct harms their actions are having on the American people.
Our recent research has already revealed major red flags that demonstrate the culture of self-dealing within the Trump Administration:
- Uncovering how President Trump and Elon Musk would financially benefit from dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Accountable.US’s report featured in The Hill exposed how the Trump administration is making decisions that could financially benefit top officials – including the President himself and Elon Musk, who have worked to expand their business interests into payment platforms – at the expense of millions of dollars in junk fees that would have been paid back to Americans.
- Oversight on how cabinet officials including Howard Lutnick stand to benefit from Trump’s shifting position on crypto: An Accountable.US analysis first reported by CNN, revealed that on the heels of the first ‘White House Crypto Summit’ where President Trump signed an executive order establishing a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve,” the family business of Howard Lutnick – the billionaire Trump Commerce Secretary and public face of the effort – held over $1.5 billion in Strategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin in the world, making him a major beneficiary of the admin’s crypto policy announcements. While Trump’s cabinet is poised to enrich themselves with the Administration’s crypto policy, the President and his allies in Congress are advocating cuts to Medicaid, cancer research, and food assistance.
We’re not going to let Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Congressional Republicans look out for themselves and their billionaire donors at the expense of everyone else in the country without a fight. And every day, as Trump, Musk, and their allies in Congress take actions to rip away essential government services from working families, including Social Security and Medicare, all to pay for more tax giveaways to billionaires, we will show the impacts on working families and how it adds to Trump and his friends’ bottom line.
