Newsletter: The Art of the Bad Deal

Inquiriespress@americanoversight.org

President Trump has continued to ramp up his attacks on higher education institutions — and demonstrate why efforts to appease authoritarian acts only lead to more abuses of power.

This week, Trump went after Columbia University, despite it having earlier bent to his demands. He threatened to revoke Columbia’s accreditation, a key certification that legitimizes an educational institution and allows students to receive federal student aid.

In March, Columbia had adopted controversial policies in response to Trump’s threats of funding cuts. Columbia agreed to overhaul campus protest rules, review admission policies, and appoint a senior vice provost to oversee its Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department — a move that alarmed academic freedom advocates and resulted in the resignation of the university’s interim president.

But this acquiescence appears to have done little to assuage Trump’s wrath. The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights sent a letter to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education — the organization that accredits Columbia — alleging the university violated civil rights laws by ignoring discrimination against Jewish students.

This mirrors the administration’s attacks on Harvard University: In April, the “Task Force to Combat Antisemitism” demanded that Harvard enact wide-ranging changes, with the university’s refusal leading to multiple rounds of funding cuts and threats to revoke its tax-exempt status.
At the same time, Trump hasn’t given up efforts to punish Harvard. After a judge blocked the administration’s attempt to revoke the school’s ability to enroll international students, the president on Wednesday announced that he would deny those students visas to come to the U.S. But that too was blocked by a judge on Thursday.

Still, the renewed aggression against Columbia serves as a reminder that these attacks on civil society — from higher education to law firms and nonprofit organizations — will not stop with elite universities. Trump has made clear that he plans to use many of these extortion tactics to suppress the work of any organization seen as opposing his anti-democratic agenda.

American Oversight is investigating and fighting back against Trump’s weaponization of the government against civil society so as to chill dissent and strong-arm institutions into adopting preferred policies by.
Recently, we sued the Internal Revenue Service, the Treasury, and the Education Department for communications with the White House that could shed light on the attempt to use the agencies against perceived political foes — and help ensure this dangerous abuse of government power does not go unchecked.

Holding DOGE Accountable

With Elon Musk now retreating to his private companies — and his and Trump’s public feud rapidly escalating — our work to quickly gather the facts about the Department of Government Efficiency has taken on new urgency. This week, we asked the court to take action to uncover the truth behind DOGE’s sweeping, shadowy power.

DOGE has clearly operated with significant independent authority — firing public servants, halting foreign aid, and accessing sensitive government systems — all behind closed doors.
We filed a motion asking the court to order DOGE to answer a series of targeted questions and produce key documents to determine whether the entity is subject to the Freedom of Information Act. Read more here about why the question of whether DOGE is an “agency” under FOIA and the Federal Records Act isn’t just a technicality — it has profound implications for the public’s ability to hold it accountable for the unchecked power it has exercised.
Our case proceeds as the Supreme Court recently granted a stay in a related FOIA lawsuit brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, temporarily blocking an order requiring DOGE to produce records and sit for depositions. We filed an amicus brief in that case.

The Slippery Slope of Corruption

Pardons for political allies, donors, and Jan. 6 insurrectionists. A memecoin that serves as a blatant cash grab. Promoting Tesla from the White House lawn alongside (now former) ally Elon Musk. Soliciting corporate donors and sponsors in an array of pay-to-play schemes.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg of Trump’s corrupt abuses of power during his second term. While not yet finalized, the recent acceptance of a luxury jet from Qatar to be used as Air Force One (before being transferred to his presidential library) encapsulates the blatant disregard for ethics rules that characterized his first term and serves as a warning that he’s become more brazenly shameless in his second.

The routine corruption that marked his previous administration — from the numerous examples of self-dealing uncovered by American Oversight to his attempt to overturn a free and fair election on Jan. 6 — shows how slippery the slope of corruption is as it bypasses democratic principles. Read more here.

Newsletter: The Art of the Bad Deal

Other Stories We’re Following