TRUMP CORRUPTION INDEX

This Week in Trumpland Corruption: The Taxes Return

New revelations about business connections, plus taxpayers shelling out for Secret Service lodgings on Trump properties

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.

The Value of a Handshake

More than 200 foreign governments, companies, and special interest groups have given millions to President Trump’s properties, according to an investigation published last week by the New York Times, all while reaping benefits from his administration. Speaking to some 250 lobbyists, Trump administration officials, business executives, representatives of foreign nations, and Mar-a-Lago members, the Times found that Trump himself would often interact personally with those who were giving his organization business. Sixty people with special interests brought about $12 million to the Trump Organization during the first two years of Trump’s presidency; almost all of them saw their interests move forward. “The fact that they could get a meeting, have a…