{"id":4427,"date":"2026-08-05T15:08:52","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T15:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4427"},"modified":"2026-08-05T15:08:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T15:08:52","slug":"keep-bribing-him-trump-hammered-over-shakedown-details","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4427","title":{"rendered":"‘Keep bribing him’: Trump hammered over shakedown details"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A Thursday report in The Wall Street Journal revealed new details on President Donald Trump\u2019s attempts to shake down major corporate donors to fund his assorted vanity projects, including the construction of his luxury White House ballroom and his presidential library.<\/p>\n

Read more New twist in Trump revenge plot as White House declassifies secret FBI probe<\/a><\/p>\n

According to the Journal, Trump employs a fundraiser named Meredith O\u2019Rourke whose job is to hound corporations into sending money to the president\u2019s projects.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Rourke\u2019s work is so important to the president, the Journal added, that he asks her for updates on her progress in raking in corporate cash almost nightly.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump asks O\u2019Rourke which companies and donors have cut checks and which haven\u2019t, and for how much,\u201d the Journal reported. \u201cHe often asks her to make much larger financial requests than she was planning\u2014for some donors the ask is $5 million, for others it is $50 million. And the president gives her names to call, often including people who have recently met with him, according to people with knowledge of the calls.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Journal estimated that Trump has raised more than $800 million from corporate donors throughout his second term, and the newspaper found that it appeared to be entirely legal.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo laws prohibit presidents from raising unlimited sums of money for nonprofits, like the ones used for the ballroom and his presidential library, his super PAC, or political issue committees,\u201d the Journal explained. \u201cFor most of these types of transactions, public disclosure of donors isn\u2019t required and reporting on spending is infrequent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of technical legality, many critics called the president\u2019s actions deeply corrupt, especially since many of the companies being shaken down for cash have business before the federal government.<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald Trump is the most corrupt president in our nation\u2019s history,\u201d wrote Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in reaction to the Journal\u2019s report.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump\u2019s Reflecting Pool witch hunt takes a new turn<\/a><\/p>\n

Adam Serwer, staff writer at The Atlantic, joked that Trump technically \u201ccan\u2019t be bought\u201d because \u201che is subscription based.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to keep bribing him forever,\u201d Serwer quipped.<\/p>\n

Eric Rauchway, historian at the University of California, Davis, noted the Journal\u2019s reporting that O\u2019Rourke will sometimes try to persuade corporate donors by telling them that \u201cthe boss wants this money,\u201d which he likened to a mafia extortion scheme.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuys, \u2018the boss wants this money\u2019 is not \u2018fundraising,\u2019\u201d wrote Rauchway, \u201cit\u2019s a Piranha Brothers operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott Horton, contributing editor at Harper\u2019s, made a similar analogy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am trying to see how this operation differs from a classic organized crime protection racket,\u201d Horton wrote. \u201cI see little distinction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amanda Carpenter, writer and editor at Protect Democracy, argued that Trump wasn\u2019t the only party meriting criticism here, as the corporations who give in to his demands deserve blame as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a politician is selling access and favors, CEOs aren\u2019t off the hook,\u201d she observed. \u201cThey don\u2019t get to just pay to play. It\u2019s not a free pass to bribe and extort and corrupt our economy. There are many legal tools to track that on the private side and hold them account for their end of these dirty deals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Trump knows he\u2019s \u2018terrible at being president\u2019 \u2014 this proves it: Jim Acosta<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you think Donald Trump’s fundraising deals with big business go too far, or is it just politics?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n'Keep bribing him': Trump hammered over shakedown details - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4427\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Keep bribing him': Trump hammered over shakedown details - Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do you think Donald Trump's fundraising deals with big business go too far, or is it just politics?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4427\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-05T15:08:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4427#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4427\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3\"},\"headline\":\"‘Keep bribing him’: Trump hammered over shakedown details\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-05T15:08:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4427\"},\"wordCount\":569,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4427#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/929de96080a4ae426f4fa8e4e76279ab.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4427#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4427\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4427\",\"name\":\"'Keep bribing him': Trump hammered over shakedown details - 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