George Stephanopoulos accuses Trump family of profiteering at a 'staggering' scale: 'This is corruption'

WASHINGTON, DC: ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos delivered a scathing critique of President Donald Trump and his family during an episode of 'This Week' on Sunday, June 1, and accused the first family of leveraging the presidency for personal financial gain on a “staggering” scale. 

The ABC anchor pointed to controversial pardons, murky crypto investments, and favorable regulatory decisions as part of a broader pattern of alleged corruption, The Daily Beast reported.

Citing journalist David Frum, Stephanopoulos called the conduct “unprecedented in American history.” His remarks come just months after ABC reached a $16 million settlement with Trump over a false on-air claim related to the E Jean Carroll case.

George Stephanopoulos blasts Donald Trump and family for 'staggering' scale of profiteering

On Sunday’s 'This Week', George Stephanopoulos alleged that Donald Trump and his family engaged in “unprecedented money-making” while in office.

In his opening remarks, the ABC anchor claimed that the Trump family used the presidency to enrich themselves, with those financially supporting them often seeing benefits through official government actions.

“The scale is staggering,” Stephanopoulos remarked. “President Trump and his family are making hundreds of millions, potentially billions of dollars, as Trump and his administration take official actions that benefit contributors and investors,” he added.

George Stephanopoulos quotes Atlantic column as he compares Trump admin to authoritarian regimes

George Stephanopoulos delivered a sweeping condemnation of Donald Trump and his administration. He criticized many Trump-era actions, zeroing in on what he described as corrupt political favors and questionable financial dealings.

One example included the pardon of convicted tax offender Paul Walzcak, granted before he even began serving his sentence, which came shortly after Walzcak’s mother attended an exclusive $1 million-per-head fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

He said, "Just this week, we learned of pardons to tax cheats — including a man whose pardon was granted weeks after his mother attended a million-dollar-a-head fundraiser with the president." 

Stephanopoulos also highlighted a series of eyebrow-raising financial moves involving Trump’s family and allies. The Securities and Exchange Commission recently dropped a years-long case against cryptocurrency exchange Binance, not long after the company added a digital coin created by World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture tied to the Trump family.

Around the same time, Trump’s social media company, "The Trump Media and Technology Group raised nearly $2.5 billion from 50 institutional investors whose identities have not been disclosed. The SEC dropped its lawsuit against the cryptocurrency firm Binance days after Binance began listing the cryptocurrency launched by World Liberty Financial — the crypto firm started by Trump’s family," the host said.

To underscore his concerns, Stephanopoulos closed with a striking excerpt from a recent Atlantic article by David Frum titled 'The Trump Presidency’s World-Historical Heist'. Frum described Trump’s actions as uniquely egregious, likening the scale of self-enrichment to the levels seen in authoritarian regimes. 

“Nothing like this has been attempted or even imagined in the history of the American presidency. Throw away the history books, discard feeble comparisons to scandals of the past. There is no analogy with any previous action by any past president,” Stephanopoulos said while quoting Frum.

“The brazenness of the self-enrichment resembles nothing seen in any earlier White House. This is American corruption on the scale of a post-Soviet republic or a post-colonial African dictatorship,” he added.

Internet divided over George Stephanopoulos' corruption allegations against Donald Trump and his family

As the video of George Stephanopoulos circulated online, many users were quick to share their opinions on the same in the comments section.

One user wrote on X, "Trump  is promoting American corruption  on a scale never imagined by our founders and the writers of the constitution!"

Another disagreed and wrote, "George is a Democrat hack, not a journalist. I don’t watch, listen or believe a word he says."

One person remarked, "This is what Globalist-CCP-Socialist corruption and propaganda narratives sound like. Well done George S."

Another declared, "This guy is a total idiot! I guess getting sued and losing once was not enough!! What a LIAR!!!"

One netizen stated, "This idiot lied and got sued by Trump and lost. Nobody believes anything the school says."

Another commented, "He is 100% correct."

One individual added, "Trump's family has the right to engage in business - at least they are adding real value based on experience, in transparent deals - not just trading on the family name in shadows."

This article contains remarks made on the internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.