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McLean, Virginia, last week. The rally was put together by the local Republican Party — a fact that makes Barr’s appearance at the event <a href="https://twitter.com/matthewamiller/status/1291717799283482624?s=20">ethically questionable</a>, given that attorneys general are not supposed to attend rallies promoted by political parties.</p><ul><li><b>Corrupt-o-meter:</b> 🐘</li></ul><h2 id="c91d">A Wolf in sheep’s clothing</h2><p id="625f">Former clients of acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/05/former-clients-of-acting-homeland-security-chief-chad-wolf-get-millions-in-dhs-contracts.html?__source=sharebar%7Ctwitter&par=sharebar">received a total of at least $160 million in DHS contracts</a> since he assumed senior positions in the department, according to CNBC. Before joining the Trump administration in 2017, Wolf worked as a lobbyist for the firm Wexler & Walker; one of his former clients, X-ray equipment manufacturer American Science and Engineering, received a contract in July 2018 worth north of$ 80 million.</p><ul><li><b>Corrupt-o-meter:</b> 🐺💰💰</li></ul><h2 id="7639">Putting the pomp in Pompeo</h2><p id="f8e3">Susan Pompeo, wife of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/10/mike-pompeo-wife-susan-will-join-him-on-trip-to-europe-amid-travel-cost-probe.html">accompanying her husband</a> this week on an official trip where they will visit the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Austria, and Poland. The problem, according to ethic watchdogs: Susan Pompeo has no official State Department position, which makes her use of personal control officers — U.S. Embassy officials who will act as her assistants — a questionable use of tax dollars. She has already been criticized for her alleged <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/secretary-of-state-mike-pompeo-wife-susan-ethics-taxpayer-money-2020-7">inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars</a>, including making State Department employees walk the family dog and fetch her dry cleaning.</p><ul><li><b>Corrupt-o-meter:</b> ✈️</li></ul><h2 id="c097">Some udder BS</h2><p id="3404">An NBC News analysis found that the Co

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ronavirus Food Assistance Program that Congress authorized in March has provided <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/small-farmers-left-behind-trump-administration-s-covid-19-relief-n1236158">far more benefit to large industrialized farms</a> than it did to smaller, diversified ones: The top 10% of recipients received over 60% of the funds, with average payments of about $95,000; the bottom 10% received less than 1% of the money, with average payments of around$ 300. The program also provided bailouts to foreign-owned farms and had loopholes which corporate farms were able to exploit for even more money.</p><ul><li><b>Corrupt-o-meter:</b> 🚜🚜<a href="https://emojipedia.org/cow/">🐄</a>🌽</li></ul><h2 id="d774">Bound 2-gether</h2><p id="7109">Ethics watchdog group Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint last week against Lane Ruhland, a Wisconsin attorney who appears to be <a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2020/08/biglaw-leaders-reassure-firm-that-representation-of-kanye-west-and-donald-trump-is-not-a-conflict-of-interest/">simultaneously working</a> for the election campaigns of both Donald Trump and Kanye West. Days earlier, Ruhland had been spotted delivering signatures to the Wisconsin Elections Commission to put West on the ballot, but she was also listed as a lawyer for the Trump campaign in a legal brief from July. That, according to Campaign for Accountability, is a clear conflict of interest. “[B]oth individuals cannot simultaneously obtain the office and hence legal steps that advance the interests on one candidacy harm the interests of the other candidacy,” Michelle Kuppersmith, executive director of Campaign for Accountability, said in the grievance. Lest there be any lingering doubt about what is afoot, West confirmed<b> </b>in an interview with <i>Forbes</i> last week that his <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/randalllane/2020/08/06/exclusive-kanye-west-indicates-that-his-spoiler-campaign-is-indeed-designed-to-hurt-biden/#1ed531626397">spoiler campaign</a> is intended to syphon votes from presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.</p><ul><li><b>Corrupt-o-meter:</b> 🎤🎤🎤</li></ul></article></body>

Trump Corruption Index

The Swamp Goes Postal: This Week in Trumpland Corruption

From Susan Pompeo’s taxpayer-funded escapades to the unraveling Postal Service, it was another week filled with self-dealing

Photo illustration. Source: State Department

Is there enough graft, double-dealing, and self-interested chicanery in the Trump administration to publish this column every week? Only time — and Trump — will tell. (But we feel pretty confident.) Presenting this week’s installment of the Trump Corruption Index.

Mailing it in

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced in a memo on Friday that he was overhauling the U.S. Postal Service, reassigning the top two agency executives responsible for day-to-day operations, along with 23 other postal executives. The shake-up ensures that DeJoy, a former Trump donor who also owned tens of millions in assets in USPS competitors or contractors, will amass even more power within the USPS and threatens to undermine its ability to function during an election-season pandemic. Indeed, ethics watchdogs are worried that Trump is crippling the agency to justify his (false) arguments against mail-in voting. Rep. Gerald Connolly, chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, said in a tweet that DeJoy’s restructuring was “deliberate sabotage.”

Corrupt-o-meter (out of a possible five emojis): ✉️✉️📮📮📮

A low Barr

Attorney General Bill Barr attended a pro-police rally in McLean, Virginia, last week. The rally was put together by the local Republican Party — a fact that makes Barr’s appearance at the event ethically questionable, given that attorneys general are not supposed to attend rallies promoted by political parties.

Corrupt-o-meter: 🐘

A Wolf in sheep’s clothing

Former clients of acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf received a total of at least $160 million in DHS contracts since he assumed senior positions in the department, according to CNBC. Before joining the Trump administration in 2017, Wolf worked as a lobbyist for the firm Wexler & Walker; one of his former clients, X-ray equipment manufacturer American Science and Engineering, received a contract in July 2018 worth north of $80 million.

Corrupt-o-meter: 🐺💰💰

Putting the pomp in Pompeo

Susan Pompeo, wife of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is accompanying her husband this week on an official trip where they will visit the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Austria, and Poland. The problem, according to ethic watchdogs: Susan Pompeo has no official State Department position, which makes her use of personal control officers — U.S. Embassy officials who will act as her assistants — a questionable use of tax dollars. She has already been criticized for her alleged inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars, including making State Department employees walk the family dog and fetch her dry cleaning.

Corrupt-o-meter: ✈️

Some udder BS

An NBC News analysis found that the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program that Congress authorized in March has provided far more benefit to large industrialized farms than it did to smaller, diversified ones: The top 10% of recipients received over 60% of the funds, with average payments of about $95,000; the bottom 10% received less than 1% of the money, with average payments of around $300. The program also provided bailouts to foreign-owned farms and had loopholes which corporate farms were able to exploit for even more money.

Corrupt-o-meter: 🚜🚜🐄🌽

Bound 2-gether

Ethics watchdog group Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint last week against Lane Ruhland, a Wisconsin attorney who appears to be simultaneously working for the election campaigns of both Donald Trump and Kanye West. Days earlier, Ruhland had been spotted delivering signatures to the Wisconsin Elections Commission to put West on the ballot, but she was also listed as a lawyer for the Trump campaign in a legal brief from July. That, according to Campaign for Accountability, is a clear conflict of interest. “[B]oth individuals cannot simultaneously obtain the office and hence legal steps that advance the interests on one candidacy harm the interests of the other candidacy,” Michelle Kuppersmith, executive director of Campaign for Accountability, said in the grievance. Lest there be any lingering doubt about what is afoot, West confirmed in an interview with Forbes last week that his spoiler campaign is intended to syphon votes from presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Corrupt-o-meter: 🎤🎤🎤