'Hurricane of corruption': GOP warned to brace for tough questions on Trump

The Republican Party has been told to brace itself to field tough questions on Donald Trump and his administration.

The president is under fire for a multitude of reasons, including the cost-of-living crisis, healthcare woes, and frequent mentions in a newly released collection of Jeffrey Epstein's files. The GOP will have ended the year in a "hurricane of corruption," according to ex-judge Thomas G. Moukawsher, writing in Newsweek. The retired judge has said the next few weeks are paramount for Republican representatives to prepare themselves.

He wrote, "Republicans will have to answer for a hurricane of corruption in 2025. By the latest count Trump has enriched himself since the election by some $4 billion. Foreign actors and corporations from across the world have bought his cryptocurrency while he rolled back regulation of the industry."

Moukawsher went on to note Trump's economic activity had been questionable, including a change to tariff rates on Switzerland and the gift of a $400 million plane from Qatar.

Moukawsher wrote, "Vietnam won a dramatic reduction of its tariff rate just weeks after the Trump organization broke ground on a $1.5 billion golf course in that country. He lowered Switzerland’s tariff rate right after Swiss businessmen handed Trump a gold bar and a Rolex watch."

"He is simultaneously developing a Trump tower in Saudi Arabia and approving an unprecedented and risky sale of F-35s to that kingdom. Trump got a $400 million plane for himself and a government-financed resort from Qatar and repaid them with a unilateral military guarantee of that country’s safety."

There is a solution for the Republican Party, according to Moukawsher, who suggested representatives simply be honest with voters.

He added, "Republicans can gain political cover by taking the lead in undoing the damage they have done by ignoring Trump’s predatory business behavior in the White House.

"But they could do it for another reason too. It sounds quaint in this age of maximum cynicism, but they might do it because it’s in the national interest.

"All governments function with some degree of corruption. But corruption on Trump’s scale is unsustainable. When everything appears for sale, inevitably everything will be bought rather than awarded by neutral officials based on merit.

"Russia shows us what kind of a country we might become if bribery becomes our norm. And perhaps our biggest fear should be that Trump thinks things in Russia are just great and that its leader is 'so nice.'"