Tracking corruption and abuse of power in the nation’s capital
The autocrats’ playbook — “Flood the zone” with daily outrages to overwhelm and disorient the public, instill fear, silence opposition, amass power, and line their own pockets.
SwampWatch is a critical antidote: It tracks corruption and abuses of power by Washington’s power elite and offers a menu of meaningful actions to erect guardrails and establish accountability. But that’s just a start: Success will require governing majorities truly dedicated to small “d” democracy, buttressed by sustained public mobilization and vigilance.
Swamp Rot:
Stinkiest Story of the Week
TREASURY’S GIFT TO CRYPTO KINGS AND HUMAN TRAFFICKERS
Under the guise of lifting regulatory burdens on small business, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) just threw open the door to dark web fentanyl pushers, human traffickers, crypto money launderers, and tax cheats.
On August 11, 2026, Treasury nixed a requirement that companies report the names of their beneficial owners—the individuals and entities who are in actual control of the companies and raking in the profits. That information is critical to exposing shell companies hiding assets and washing dirty money. As former CIA intelligence officer and Treasury Special Agent John Cassara told a House Committee hearing, “once the money is layered and integrated into the economy, we don’t know who owns that shopping center, who owns that yacht, who owns that property.”
Might they be campaign donors?
Making matters worse, the new rule doesn't just cut off future reporting—it mandates the destruction of all registry data previously collected under the Corporate Transparency Act.
Gotta wonder who’s named in those reports.
More Recent Stories
Trump Rakes In Billions: “Corruption [With] Few Rivals In…History”
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NEWS & RESEARCH
According to his annual financial disclosure, Donald Trump made $2.2 billion in 2025 alone, raising major concerns that he is using his position in the Oval Office to fill his own pockets. Aside from taking…
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ANALYSIS & OPINION
Trump’s actions are wholly unprecedented. His financial disclosure ran 927 pages. In comparison, Joe Biden’s disclosure was 11 pages, and Barack Obama’s was eight. Before Trump, every single US president since…
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HOW TO FIX IT
Federal action:
Close the conflict-of-interest loophole and make blind trusts law. Pass the Presidential Conflicts of Interest Accountability Act, which would amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to require that presidents and vice presidents sell off their business interests and place the proceeds in a…
TRump Sells Early Access To His Truth Social Posts for $100K Per Month
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NEWS & RESEARCH
On August 1, 2026, Trump Media & Technology Group launched "Truth API," a subscription service charging financial firms up to $100,000 per month for advance access to market-moving Truth…
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ANALYSIS & OPINION
Sens. Adam Schiff and Elizabeth Warren contend that the paid data feed gives wealthy Wall Street traders an unfair advantage by getting early access to market-moving posts. Rep. Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the House Judiciary…
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HOW TO FIX IT
To address these conflicts, advocates and lawmakers suggest:
Pass the the Modern Emoluments and Malfeasance Act, or MEME Act, the Presidential Conflicts of Interest Act and other conflict of interest reforms.
Introduce legislation that explicitly bans the…
Drain the Swamp:
Celebrating valor
Whistleblower: Trump Administration Pressured DOJ/HHS Staff To Find Antisemitism at Ivies
Antisemitism is monstrously heinous; it led to the gravest crime of the 20th century. Which is why a well-grounded allegation of antisemitism is a reputational dagger. But when the accusation is pretextual, it harms the innocent and casts a shadow over all allegations of antisemitism.
Recall that following the outbreak of the Gaza war and nationwide campus protests, the Trump administration launched a high-profile crackdown, stripping hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants from Harvard, Columbia, and Brown under the banner of protecting Jewish students.
But Haley Van Erem, a former DOJ attorney, recently filed a whistleblower complaint disclosing that the administration pressured DOJ and HHS staff to pursue antisemitism investigations that lacked factual bases and singled out Muslim faculty members regardless of whether they were allegedly implicated.
Van Erem’s attorneys at the Government Accountability Project (GAP) wrote Congress that the administration pressured staff to make findings that were “predetermined, without regard to the evidence” and intended to coerce the universities into large monetary settlements. And that pressure worked: Columbia and Brown caved, settling lawsuits for $270 million.
Harvard, backed by a more formidable endowment, resisted and, last week, prevailed. Federal Judge Richard Stearns dismissed the government's claims, ruling the alleged incidents were far too isolated and episodic to constitute a systemic civil rights violation, echoing fellow federal Judge Allison Burroughs, who scolded the administration for using “antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault” on higher education.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, wrote the chief of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, blasting the investigation as a “a pre-baked frame-up operation thoroughly political in nature." Ouch.
Thanks to Haley Van Erem, GAP, and Rep. Raskin for standing up to the abuse of power.
SwampCreatureS
of the Month
Have a need to ditch a fiancée? Maybe, like Don Jr., your pops can appoint her ambassador to the “Cradle of Democracy.”
Itchy to grift out? Maybe, like Don Jr., you could join investment firm 1789 Capital and secure government contracts, loans, and regulatory relief for clients like Polymarket which saw its value skyrocket from $300 million last year to $15 billion after a federal regulator lifted the ban on US wagers and granted it an operating license. Such good deeds for clients get richly rewarded: Over the first half of 2026, 1789’s profits have shot up 200%; its assets under management mushroomed ten-fold.
Donnie must be very talented. Or something.
But Eric gets a piece of the action too. Together, the Trump bros have taken stakes in a dozen defense companies during daddy’s second term, tallying at least $3.2 billion in direct government business and $3.1 billion more in future options.
Which is only fair, given that bro-in-law Jared’s private equity firm Affinity Partners has raised $3 billion, $2 billion from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, Qatar, and the UAE, while serving as DJT’s Special Envoy for Peace.
