{"id":1056420,"date":"2025-10-07T09:39:51","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T13:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1056420"},"modified":"2025-10-07T09:39:52","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T13:39:52","slug":"corruption-watch-trump-nominees-make-six-figure-donations-to-the-rnc-in-apparent-exchange-for-speedier-confirmations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/corruption-watch-trump-nominees-make-six-figure-donations-to-the-rnc-in-apparent-exchange-for-speedier-confirmations\/","title":{"rendered":"Corruption Watch: Trump Nominees Make Six-Figure Donations to the RNC in Apparent Exchange For Speedier Confirmations\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"449\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1050776\" srcset=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png 1101w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=300,132 300w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=768,337 768w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=1024,449 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>Donald Trump\u2019s long-stalled nominees Audrey Robertson and Joe Popolo cut suspicious six-figure checks to the Republican National Committee during their confirmation process \u2014 raising serious pay-to-play concerns&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After similar pay-to-play <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/doug-manchester-possible-pay-to-play-scheme-for-ambassador-role-in-trump-administration-uncovered\/\">schemes<\/a> went down during his first term, new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/09\/29\/trump-nominees-donations-rnc-ambassador-netherlands-doe\">reporting<\/a> shows that multiple Trump nominees made suspiciously timed donations in the middle of their confirmation processes. Trump\u2019s nominee to lead the renewables department at the Department of Energy \u2014 Audrey Robertson \u2014 donated $100,000 to the RNC just one day before her nomination advanced in the Senate. On top of that, Joe Popolo \u2014 Trump&#8217;s nominee for ambassador to the Netherlands \u2014 and his wife donated $100,000 to the RNC as his nomination was stalled in the Senate. The U.S. Office of Government Ethics says donations like these pose \u201cserious impacts on the public trust.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>In response, DNC Senior Spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg issued the following statement:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe corruption in Donald Trump\u2019s White House is staggering. To no one\u2019s surprise, Trump and his cronies find new ways to line their pockets every day, selling influence and positions to the highest bidder. While working families get screwed by his disastrous policies, Trump and the RNC are treating the government like his personal ATM and raking in the cash.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump promised to \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/politics\/policy\/lobbyists-revel-in-trump-bonanza-but-ask-how-long-it-can-last-14115b1a\">drain the swamp<\/a>,\u201d but corruption has flourished on his watch \u2014 and these donations are just the latest example. Trump is helping lobbyists rake in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/politics\/policy\/lobbyists-revel-in-trump-bonanza-but-ask-how-long-it-can-last-14115b1a\">record-setting profits<\/a> by selling connections in the administration while the Trump family grows their family fortune by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/top-stories\/latest\/trump-family-profit-white-house-billions-rcna225627\">$3.4 billion<\/a>. Recently, Trump\u2019s Justice Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/msnbc\/news\/tom-homan-cash-contracts-trump-doj-investigation-rcna232568\">dropped<\/a> a criminal investigation into his Border Czar Tom Homan, who was recorded accepting $50,000 from undercover FBI agents seeking government contracts. The message is clear: Under Trump, the White House is for sale.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Donald Trump\u2019s long-stalled nominees Audrey Robertson and Joe Popolo cut suspicious six-figure checks to the Republican National Committee during their confirmation process \u2014 raising serious pay-to-play concerns&nbsp; After similar pay-to-play schemes went down during his first term, new reporting shows that multiple Trump nominees made suspiciously timed donations in the middle of their confirmation processes. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":302,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1056420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Corruption Watch: Trump Nominees Make Six-Figure Donations to the RNC in Apparent Exchange For Speedier Confirmations\u00a0 - Democrats<\/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:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/corruption-watch-trump-nominees-make-six-figure-donations-to-the-rnc-in-apparent-exchange-for-speedier-confirmations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-07T13:39:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-07T13:39:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1101\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tristin Byrd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tristin Byrd\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/corruption-watch-trump-nominees-make-six-figure-donations-to-the-rnc-in-apparent-exchange-for-speedier-confirmations\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/corruption-watch-trump-nominees-make-six-figure-donations-to-the-rnc-in-apparent-exchange-for-speedier-confirmations\/\",\"name\":\"Corruption Watch: Trump Nominees Make Six-Figure Donations to the RNC in Apparent Exchange For Speedier Confirmations\u00a0 - 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