U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before boarding Air Force One as he departs for Washington, D.C., at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, U.S., May 25, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
Donald Trump has campaigned for his entire political career on "draining the swamp" of corruption in politics, but as one legal expert observed on Monday, his relentless fundraising and commitment to corruption show that he is instead "deepening the swamp."
Norm Eisen is a veteran attorney and legal analyst for various outlets, known as a fierce critic of Trump who served as a co-counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during his first impeachment trial in 2020. On Monday, Eisen appeared as a guest on The New Republic's "Daily Blast" podcast, where he and host Greg Sargent discussed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's "long and remarkable takedown" of Trump's recent military incursion into Venezuela and capture of its president Nicolás Maduro.
In the post, Greene, a once-staunch ally of Trump, now turned vocal critic, accused Trump's move into Venezuela of being motivated entirely by "control over [its] oil supplies." She also accused him of a "betrayal" of MAGA voters, whom she said voted for Trump to end the "government’s never-ending military aggression and support of foreign wars," arguing that "this is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end."
Eisen agreed with Greene's assessment of the situation and added that Trump making this move against Venezuela for the benefit of Big Oil shows how deeply his administration is committed to corruption.
"She’s hitting a note here where the right and the left actually have some common ground—the genuine right and the left, not Trump’s party, which is all about the greatness of Trump, including supporting his corruption," Eisen said. "We should not be invading foreign countries to seize their oil. I mean, the guy is such an unsophisticated dictator. Trump is setting up a payback loop to the big oil companies. He said as much during the campaign. It was reported that he openly said, 'You should vote for me. You should financially support me. Because, in essence, I’ll make it worth your while if I get into office.'"
Sargent noted in response that Trump infamously promised big returns for oil company executives if they donated $1 billion to his 2024 reelection during a fundraising event.
"So there’s that aspect, the corruption, and there is a commitment that Donald Trump made that he would fight the corruption of the swamp. Instead, he’s just deepening the swamp."
He continued: "A second point that she notes is Donald Trump promised an end to the forever wars and the entanglements around the world. And instead, he’s just thrust himself into every conflict all over the globe—here, Greg, kidnapping a foreign president, whatever legal claims we may have against him. And nobody supports Maduro, nobody likes Maduro, but you’ve got to deal with Maduro in a legal way."
