Trump White House accused of 'bribery' as cases against firms that bankrolled his inauguration dropped

WASHINGTON, DC: A bombshell analysis dropped Monday, April 21, reveals that at least 17 corporations under federal investigation reportedly had their cases quietly dropped or paused after throwing big money for President Donald Trump's second inauguration.

The total donations from these companies amount to $50 million, and that’s just from the ones Public Citizen was able to track. 

The watchdog group matched newly filed Federal Election Commission data with its own Corporate Enforcement Tracker. Their analysis indicated that companies in deep legal trouble gave big, and suddenly the government wasn’t so interested in holding them accountable anymore.

“Corporations facing federal lawsuits and investigations aren't giving millions to Trump's inauguration out of the kindness of their hearts,” said Public Citizen researcher Rick Claypool. 

"They are trying to buy goodwill. And when you're a corporation under investigation or facing prosecution, that means the government dropping enforcement actions against you. In some cases, it may even mean receiving pardons in cases in which guilty pleas have already been entered, or retractions of settlements already entered into," he added.

Pardons, paydays, and pulled lawsuits 

The list of companies benefiting from this supposed get-out-of-jail-free spree is a who’s who of corporate giants. Bank of America, Capital One, Coinbase, DuPont, and JPMorgan all saw their federal enforcement cases go up in smoke after writing hefty checks to the Trump party fund.

Google donated $1 million and got a major break in an antitrust battle with the DOJ. One of the more aggressive components of the case — a proposed plan to force Google to sell off some AI assets — was mysteriously scrapped.

Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai was given the red carpet treatment at Trump’s inaugural bash, sharing space with other corporate honchos who likely weren’t there just for the confetti and balloons.

Even the IRS wasn’t safe. After Intuit—the company behind TurboTax—handed over a cool $1 million, the Trump administration reportedly started laying the groundwork to kill off the IRS’s free tax filing program. 

Former United States secretary of labor Robert Reich pointed out the trend in an X post: “Apple donated $1M. Trump exempted most of Apple's imports from tariffs. Coinbase donated $1M. Trump's SEC dropped a major lawsuit against them. See how this works?”

From Easter Egg rolls to antitrust deals

According to CBS News, this year’s White House Easter Egg Roll was practically brought to you by the Fortune 500. Instead of the usual American Egg Board sponsorship, stations were branded by Amazon, Meta (Facebook’s parent), and YouTube, turning the family-friendly tradition into a Silicon Valley-sponsored spectacle.

Public Citizen wasn’t impressed. “Nothing says Happy Easter in Trump 2.0 like having corporate sponsors at the White House Egg Roll,” the group quipped on social media. “They really never miss an opportunity for some good old-fashioned corporate bribery.”

Taking a peek at the donation leaderboard, the top-tier sponsors really do look like they paid for favors. Pilgrim’s Pride, the chicken giant that just last year forked over $100 million in an antitrust settlement, was the biggest donor with a staggering $5 million.

Right behind them was Ripple Labs, which recently paid the SEC $50 million (down from an initial fine of $125 million). And then there’s Robinhood, the trading app that’s been caught in a series of financial violations—they tossed $2 million into the inauguration kitty and soon saw a $29.75 million FINRA fine settle multiple probes, per Rolling Stone.

Max Stier, the head of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, told CNN of the contributions. “It’s not actually a good thing to see that number go up. It’s an indication of a mechanism for moneyed interest to direct cash to a newly elected president to curry favor.”