The millions of Americans struggling to cope with the cost of living in recent months, watching as the price of everything from groceries and petrol to healthcare soars, have been painfully aware that not all their compatriots are suffering.
asserted
compatriots → struggle → healthcare
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, the powerful investigative arm of the House of Representatives, have kept a running tracker notching up every cent of the billions of dollars with which they claim Donald Trump and his family have enriched themselves through 'digital grift schemes … collecting profits through digital wallets and granting pardons to the highest bidders'.
uncertain
Trump → keep → bidders
As of Wednesday, these alleged ill-gotten gains were calculated to stand at nearly $4.5 billion (£3.3billion).
asserted
gains → allege → billion
And as the Democrats sensationally recaptured both the House and Senate, the committee's incoming chairman, Robert Garcia, had a blunt warning for the humiliated President.
asserted
chairman → recapture → President
'LAWYER UP,' he advised.
asserted
he → lawyer → ?
In the run-up to Tuesday's seismic midterm elections, corruption came near the top of voters' concerns in several polls.
asserted
corruption → come → polls
Trump's alleged self-enrichment – along with that of his family and his cronies – is something the Democrats have made clear they want to investigate forensically.
asserted
they → make → family
Only last week, Garcia vowed: 'On DAY ONE we are going to take on the most corrupt family ever to occupy the White House.'
asserted
we → vow → House
As the Democrats sensationally recaptured both the House and Senate, the committee's incoming chairman, Robert Garcia (pictured last year), had a blunt warning for the President
Trump's alleged self-enrichment – along with that of his family and his cronies – is something the Democrats have made clear they want to investigate forensically, writes Tom Leonard
Criminal charges are potentially on the table, with Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House Speaker-elect, promising to 'hold the crooks accountable'.
Those investigations may well lead to the impeachment (the process whereby public officials are removed from office for 'high crimes and misdemeanours') of Trump's staffers and possibly the President himself.
uncertain
officials → recapture → staffers
The President, of course, faced two impeachment attempts during his first administration, but these went nowhere because the Republicans held the Senate, where a two-thirds majority is needed to secure a conviction.
asserted
majority → face → conviction
Now, however, the Democrats will run the show – and Trump himself reportedly predicted he'd be impeached in a pre-election meeting with House Republicans, although he says he would consider presumptive pardons for himself and aides.
uncertain
he → run → himself
So what exactly are the Democrats going to investigate?
asserted
Democrats → go → what
The Trump family's vast profits from the cryptocurrency industry; his administration's continued refusal to reveal everything the federal government has on the late paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein; its pardoning of wealthy criminals and Maga loyalists; alleged corrupt business dealings of Middle East envoys Jared Kushner (Trump's son-in-law) and Steve Witkoff; and even Trump's lavish Washington building projects – all these and more have been identified by Democrats as areas to pursue.
asserted
government → reveal → areas
They also want to investigate myriad aspects of Trump's regime which they hate but which don't necessarily touch on corruption, including immigration enforcement, the conduct of the Iran war and trade tariffs.
asserted
which → want → war
Trump's opponents have been pressing for months for answers on these and other concerns – but, until now, the targets of their enquiries have ignored them as the Republicans controlled Congress.
asserted
Republicans → press → Congress
Now, however, the Democrats can not only draw on greater manpower to investigate alleged offences but they can subpoena documents and force people to testify.
asserted
they → draw → people
New questions emerge by the day.
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questions → emerge → day
The Trump family recently acknowledged, for instance, that a weekend 'wedding party' for the President's son, Donald Jr, was partly funded by a Russian oligarch, reportedly with close ties to the Kremlin.
uncertain
party → acknowledge → 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.
asserted
Subramanyam → deal → Wednesday
Many clearly agree although the White House has repeatedly denied any allegations of wrongdoing.
asserted
House → agree → wrongdoing
During his first term, Trump was criticised when it emerged that foreign governments, US officials and others involved with his administration were spending millions of dollars, including American-taxpayer money, on meals and rooms in hotels owned by the Trump Organization.
asserted
governments → criticise → Organization
Opponents now claim that was nothing compared with the profiteering that has gone on since his re-election in 2024.
uncertain
that → claim → 2024
Although the Trump Organization promised to pause foreign deals during his first term, this time round it lined up a string of multi-million-dollar projects across the world.
asserted
it → promise → world
The Trump family recently acknowledged, that a weekend 'wedding party' for the President's son, Donald Jr (pictured at a rally in Ohio on November 2), was partly funded by a Russian oligarch, reportedly with close ties to the Kremlin
This mixing of public office with private benefits is meant to be curtailed by the US Constitution's 'emoluments' clause, which states that Congress must approve any gift from a 'king, prince or foreign state' to an elected US official, including the President.
uncertain
Congress → acknowledge → President
Trump has been causing particular alarm over his encouragement of the cryptocurrency industry.
asserted
Trump → cause → industry
Wealthy crypto investors poured money into his election campaign and a grateful Trump pledged to slash regulations and make the US the 'crypto capital of the world'.
asserted
US → pour → world
Within days of his inauguration, he controversially pardoned Ross Ulbricht, a jailed cyber-crime pioneer who set up a marketplace on the 'dark web' (inaccessible from typical browsers).
asserted
who → pardon → browsers
The President also launched his own cryptocurrency, the $TRUMP 'meme coin', which earned him several billion dollars on paper.
asserted
which → launch → paper
The coin has since collapsed in value, ruining several investors, as has the First Lady's '$MELANIA' coin.
asserted
coin → collapse → investors
Trump and his sons – Donald Jr, Eric and Barron – were also heavily involved in a crypto business, World Liberty Financial, launched four months before he took office.
asserted
he → launch → office
The Democrats want to review a reported deal – allegedly agreed just four days before the inauguration – in which a member of the ruling royal family of Abu Dhabi in the UAE secretly bought a 49 percent stake in World Liberty Financial for around $500million – of which nearly half allegedly went to the families of Trump and Steve Witkoff.
uncertain
half → want → Trump
Months later, the Trump administration approved $1.4billion (£1billion) in arms sales and the sale of 35,000 advanced AI chips to the UAE, despite national security concerns, say Democrats.
asserted
Democrats → approve → concerns
The White House and World Liberty denied any link between the investment and the chip sale.
asserted
House → deny → investment
Witkoff has denied any wrongdoing.
asserted
Witkoff → deny → wrongdoing
In June, Trump's official financial disclosures revealed he had more than $2.2billion (£1.6billion) income last year, including $1.4billion from the crypto business.
asserted
he → reveal → business
He insisted there was 'nothing illegal' about this income but Democrats wanted to investigate it
Trump's opponents further want to discuss the circumstances in which another wealthy Middle Eastern petrostate, Qatar, came to donate a $400million (£295million) Boeing 747-8 to his administration to serve as Air Force One.
asserted
petrostate → insist → One
As for Jared Kushner, married to Trump's daughter Ivanka, Democrats have been demanding since 2023 to know quite how he manages to avoid a conflict of interest between his dual roles as an informal foreign policy adviser to Trump and being the head of a private equity firm that conducts business with foreign governments.
asserted
that → marry → governments
They are also keen to explore how and why Kushner's firm took $2billion (£1.5billion) investment from Saudia Arabia's sovereign wealth fund soon after Trump left the White House in 2021.
asserted
Trump → explore → 2021
Democrats are also demanding to know how a clutch of defence and tech firms backed by Donald Jr and Eric Trump have won billions of dollars in federal government deals.
asserted
clutch → demand → deals
Finally, before taking office, Trump had promised to release, uncensored, all the millions of government files that were connected to his longtime paedophile friend Jeffrey Epstein.
asserted
that → take → friend
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
