Trump Threatens Media Network for Covering His Solicitation of a $400 Million Luxury Jet Bribe: An Executive Watch Roundup
Our early-June selection of the president's latest and greatest assaults on the rule of law
Earlier this year, the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, along with its flagship publication, The UnPopulist, launched Executive Watch, a project that tracks presidential abuses of power. Executive Watch maintains a comprehensive database that meticulously documents each illicit action emanating from this White House. (You can also find the tracker on ISMA’s website.)
Below is our biweekly selection of new entries posted in Executive Watch. We’re covering everything from the White House’s decision to appease Elon Musk by targeting a Democratic watchdog outfit whose reports angered the tech billionaire, to Trump implementing a pardon system for corrupt ideological allies, to his active solicitation of a $400 million bribe from a Middle-Eastern petrostate. And that’s just for starters. We document many more of this White House’s abuses below.
You should bookmark this page that contains a chronological scroll of the abuses and this post that sorts and lists them under our 5 P categories:
After reading this roundup, tell us in the comments: Which of these abuses do you take to be the most troubling, and why?
May 26, 2025
Trump’s Pardon Czar Hands a ‘MAGA Pardon’ to a Corrupt Sheriff Convicted for Bribery
Category: Power Consolidation
The Framers of the Constitution gave the president the pardon power to correct injustices. Donald Trump is using it to create a two-tier system of justice, in which his opponents are subjected to endless harassment and legal threats, while his supporters are totally exempted from the law.
WTOP News reports:
President Donald Trump pardoned a former Virginia sheriff who was sentenced to 10 years in prison on federal bribery charges earlier this year. …
Prosecutors said Jenkins accepted more than $75,000 in a “cash for badges” scheme in 2022. Two of the auxiliary deputy sheriffs that Jenkins accepted money from were undercover FBI agents, who testified they gave Jenkins envelopes with $5,000 and $10,000 cash, respectively. …
Scott MacFarlane, CBS News’ Justice correspondent, told WTOP that the president’s move was “not at all surprising.”
“Scott Jenkins was a longtime, vocal supporter of President Trump, a fixture in terms of a campaign surrogate for Donald Trump in Virginia, and appeared at the White House during Trump’s first term,” he said. “(There was) no evidence of there being any misconduct or impropriety in the trial. But this pardon takes effect now.”
Just to make it obvious, Ed Martin, the Trump loyalist recently appointed to be in charge of vetting presidential pardons, announced, “No MAGA left behind.” This is the same Ed Martin Trump previously installed as acting D.C. District Attorney despite his role in defending Jan. 6 insurrectionists. Trump had to withdraw his effort to install him permanently in that position when it came up that key Republicans in the Senate would not vote for his confirmation.
A previous Justice Department statement about Sheriff Jenkins had declared legal accountability for “officials [who] use their authority for unjust personal enrichment.” But Donald Trump is on the other side on that issue.
May 21, 2025
The FTC Obliges Musk and Targets a Democrat-Aligned Group Flagging Racist Content on X
Category: Power Consolidation
The Trump administration is systematically trying to dismantle the fundraising and media infrastructure of its political opposition. The latest attack is a Federal Trade Commission investigation launched against Media Matters, a Democrat-aligned media watchdog group.
The New York Times reports:
The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday opened an investigation into Media Matters, a liberal advocacy organization that has published research on hateful and antisemitic content on X, according to two people familiar with the inquiry.
The regulator said in a letter sent to the organization that it was investigating the group, which is aligned with Democrats, over whether it illegally colluded with advertisers, according to the people. The letter, a copy of which was seen by The New York Times, required the organization to share copies of its budgets, documents showing the effects of “harmful” online content on advertisers, and communications with other watchdog groups.
Elon Musk, who owns X and has become a close adviser to President Trump, sued Media Matters in 2023 over claims that it tried to damage the social media platform’s relationship with advertisers. That lawsuit continues. As part of its demands, the F.T.C. also asked Media Matters to turn over all the documents it had produced or received from X in that litigation.
The investigation is the latest example of the Trump administration’s taking actions against individuals and organizations that play critical roles in the infrastructure of the political left.
Working to expose racism on media platforms is clearly protected by the First Amendment. But the process is the punishment. Media Matters already had to lay off workers in 2024 to defend against a frivolous lawsuit by Musk and may have to shrink more to fend off the FTC.
May 17, 2025
Trump Threatens ABC With an FCC Investigation for Reporting that He Solicited the Qatari Palace in the Sky as a Plane Bribe
Category: Power Consolidation
How do we know Donald Trump is accepting a $400 million bribe from the royal family of Qatar? Because the media reported it—and they have followed up by revealing that Trump actively solicited the bribe. So, naturally, Trump is threatening the media, starting with ABC News.
The Hill reports on this, while it still can:
President Trump is threatening ABC News over its coverage of a luxury jet he is set to receive from Qatar, a decision that is drawing criticism from both congressional leaders and national security experts.
“Why doesn’t Chairman Bob Iger do something about ABC Fake News,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Saturday, name-checking the Disney CEO who presides over the broadcast news network. The president referenced a multimillion-dollar settlement the network paid him late last year over comments made by George Stephanopoulos in which the “This Week” anchor falsely said Trump had been convicted of sexual assault. [Executive Watch factcheck: Trump was found liable for “sexual abuse.” Decide for yourself whether that counts as “sexual assault.”] The company retracted and apologized for the remarks.
“Now I see they are at it again, and I again give these SleazeBags fair warning,” Trump wrote in his weekend post. …
Trump has threatened a number of leading news networks over their coverage of him during his second term in office, urging his Federal Communications Commission to investigate the outlets and refusing questions from reporters working for those he says are not fair to him.
The purpose of this sort of threat is obvious: To intimidate news organizations into reporting events in terms favorable to Trump—or to suppress their reporting altogether. Trump wants to be able to profit from his office without the public having clear knowledge of what he is doing.
May 12, 2025
Trump's Authoritarianism Comes for the Free Market and Imposes Price Controls on Pharmaceuticals
Category: Policy Illegality
Some of Trump’s supporters have been seduced by the prospect of “free-market authoritarianism.” They imagine he’ll use his power against woke colleges and the media but also be “pro-business” and lift taxes and regulations. If the tariffs didn’t burst their bubble, maybe this will.
The Cato Institute provides an analysis:
Today, President Trump ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to “communicate … price targets to pharmaceutical manufacturers.” …
If HHS determines that pharmaceutical manufacturers have failed to make “significant progress” (whatever that means) toward those targets, things get ugly. In that event, Trump commands: …
The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission “shall…undertake enforcement action against any anti-competitive practices.”
The Commerce Department and other agencies “shall…consider all necessary action regarding the export of pharmaceutical drugs or precursor material.”
The Food and Drug Administration shall “review and potentially modify or revoke approvals granted for drugs.” …
HHS does not have the power to “impose” price controls on private pharmaceutical purchases. If it did, some past administration already would have exercised that authority. But Trump might be able to impose price controls even without statutory authority. Congress has granted the executive branch so much power already, and so much discretion in using those powers, that the president may be able to claim this power that Congress never granted. What drug manufacturer would risk having HHS, DOJ, the FTC, Commerce, the FDA, and other federal agencies simultaneously taking action against them?
It turns out there is no such thing as “free-market authoritarianism.” Like most authoritarians, Donald Trump views himself as the owner and manager of the national economy, whose mercurial orders everyone must obey if they want to be able to do business.
May 12, 2025
Trump Tries to Take Over the Library of Congress Without Congressional Authorization and Put His Lackeys In Charge
Category: Power Consolidation
The question of who controls the Library of Congress would seem to be answered in the name itself: It is the Library of Congress. But Donald Trump just tried to install his lackeys in top positions there, leading to a standoff with library staff and members of Congress.
The New York Times reports:
Mr. Trump named Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general who was his lead defense lawyer in his criminal trial in Manhattan last year, to take over from Carla Hayden, the librarian of Congress whom the president abruptly fired late last week. …
Around 9 a.m., the two Justice Department officials arrived at the library’s James Madison Memorial Building and sought access to the U.S. Copyright Office, which is housed there. They brought a letter from the White House declaring that Mr. Blanche was the acting librarian and that he had selected the two men for top roles at the agency. …
Staff members at the library balked and called the U.S. Capitol Police as well as their general counsel, Meg Williams, who told the two officials that they were not allowed access to the Copyright Office and asked them to leave, one of the people said.
Mr. Perkins and Mr. Nieves then left the building willingly, accompanied to the door by Ms. Williams. The library’s staff is recognizing Robert Newlen, the principal deputy librarian who was Dr. Hayden’s No. 2, as the acting librarian until it gets direction from Congress, one of the people familiar with the situation said. …
The Library of Congress houses the Congressional Research Service, which provides nonpartisan information to assist in the drafting of legislation, and the Copyright Office.
Trump has been asserting a broad interpretation of the power of the president to control independent agencies. This is an unambiguous case where that assertion breaks down the separation of powers and would subject the functioning of Congress to the control of the president.
This situation has echoes of the takeover of the United States Institute of Peace where DOGE honchos showed up—the second time around with the police and the FBI—and forcibly took over the building and threw out the existing staff even though USIP is not part of the executive branch.
May 11, 2025
Trump Plans to Ditch the American-Made Air Force One and Accept a $400 Million Flying Palace from the Emir of Qatar as a Bribe
Category: Personal Grift
Donald Trump has been flagrantly selling his presidency, and the royal family of Qatar is outbidding everyone, offering him the open bribe of a $400 million “flying palace.” The clue it’s a bribe is that the plane will follow Trump and be used to fly him around after he leaves office.
ABC News reports:
In what may be the most valuable gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government, the Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar—a gift that is to be available for use by President Donald Trump as the new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation, sources familiar with the proposed arrangement told ABC News. …
Trump had previously toured the plane, which is so opulently configured it is known as “a flying palace,” while it was parked at the West Palm Beach International Airport in February. …
[S]ources told ABC News that lawyers for the White House counsel's office and the Department of Justice drafted an analysis for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth concluding that it is legal for the Department of Defense to accept the aircraft as a gift and later turn it over to the Trump library, and that it does not violate laws against bribery or the Constitution's prohibition (the emoluments clause) of any U.S. government official accepting gifts “from any King, Prince or foreign State.” …
According to aviation industry experts, the estimated value of the aircraft Trump will inherit is about $400 million.
The Founders knew what corruption looked like; they saw it in the colonial governors. So they didn’t say no president can accept gifts if there’s a specific quid pro quo. They said he couldn’t accept gifts. That anyone is even arguing whether this is a bribe is frankly embarrassing.
May 9, 2025
Stephen Miller Peddles Dangerous Falsehoods that the Executive Has Sweeping Authority to Suspend Habeas Corpus and Defy Courts on Immigration
Category: Policy Illegality
Top Trump advisor Stephen Miller has openly threatened to suspend habeas corpus, the Constitution’s main protection against arbitrary arrest. He then went on to say that the administration might defy all judicial review of any action the administration decides is related to immigration.
Legal scholar Steve Vladeck provides a thorough analysis:
Stephen Miller went on television Friday afternoon and made some of the most remarkable (and remarkably scary) comments about federal courts that I think we’ve ever heard from a senior White House official: …
“Well, the Constitution is clear. And that, of course, is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion. So … that’s an option we’re actively looking at. Look, a lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not. At the end of the day, Congress passed a body of law known as the Immigration Nationality Act which stripped Article III courts, that’s the judicial branch, of jurisdiction over immigration cases. So Congress actually passed what’s called jurisdiction stripping legislation. It passed a number of laws that say that the Article III courts aren't even allowed to be involved in immigration cases.”
I know there’s a lot going on, and that Miller says lots of incendiary (and blatantly false) stuff. But this strikes me as raising the temperature to a whole new level—and thus meriting a brief explanation of all of the ways in which this statement is both (1) wrong; and (2) profoundly dangerous. …
Miller gives away the game when he says “a lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not.” It’s not just the mafia-esque threat implicit in this statement (“I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse”); it’s that he’s telling on himself: He’s suggesting that the administration would (unlawfully) suspend habeas corpus if (but apparently only if) it disagrees with how courts rule in these cases. In other words, it’s not the judicial review itself that’s imperiling national security; it’s the possibility that the government might lose.
In fact, this administration is already violating the requirements of habeas corpus by sending people to prison in El Salvador and resisting court orders to return them. It is what you would expect from a president who claims not to know whether he’s required to uphold the Constitution.
May 9, 2025
ICE Agents Arrest Newark Mayor for Protesting Deportations Outside the Detention Prison in an Attempt to Intimidate Local Officials
Category: Power Consolidation
The immigration police state is not just coming for immigrants. It’s coming for local officials, including judges, who fail to fully cooperate, and for elected officials who show up at ICE facilities to protest its policies. That’s what they just did to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.
The Guardian has the fullest report:
The mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, was arrested for alleged trespass at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in New Jersey on Friday and released after several hours. …
Linda Baraka, the mayor’s wife, accused the federal government of targeting her husband.
“They didn’t arrest anyone else. They didn’t ask anyone else to leave. They wanted to make an example out of the mayor,” she said, adding that she had not been allowed to see him.
A crowd gathered to protest outside the building where Baraka was being held, with many chanting: “Let the mayor go!”
When federal officials blocked his entry, a heated argument broke out, according to Viri Martinez, an activist with the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. It continued even after Baraka returned to the public side of the gates. “There was yelling and pushing,” Martinez said. “Then the officers swarmed Baraka. They threw one of the organizers to the ground. They put Baraka in handcuffs and put him in an unmarked car.” …
The politicians have accused the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of reopening the detention facility, in contravention of local ordinances and without the necessary permits.
Baraka was there with three members of Congress who were asserting their right to access the facility as a form of legislative oversight. So ICE agents instead targeted Baraka in a clear attempt to intimidate local officials and set up federal immigration police as a law unto themselves.
© The UnPopulist, 2025
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You asked which assault is most worrisome, but it's the aggregate that is the real problem. They are all part of the same plan to turn America into an authoritarian regime. I really don't see a way for America to recover from this. Too many protections have been violated over the last eighty years, and we no longer have a population that is informed enough to care.
Where is Peter Schweizer reporting all these? I guess he only knows how to write books on Clinton cash and Hunter Biden.