Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is calling out what he sees as a sweetheart deal between Meta Platforms Inc. (Meta (META)) and President Donald Trump. In a Saturday post on X, Sanders accused the company of benefiting from an $8 billion tax break after it paid $25 million to settle a lawsuit with Trump and contributed $1 million to his inauguration.
The timing, Sanders argues, looks like a quid pro quo. Meta's payments came last year, while the tax change—which pushed Meta's quarterly tax rate to negative 23%—happened this year. "A pretty good return on investment," Sanders wrote.
This isn't just about Meta. Sanders has also been hammering on what he calls profiteering from cryptocurrency and other deals tied to the Trump family. A January report cited by Sanders estimated the Trump family's crypto gains at $3.013 billion after a $646 million jump, part of a broader $4.05 billion haul that includes other business ventures.
The earlier August 2025 estimate pegged Trump family crypto profits at around $2.36 billion, linked to projects like American Bitcoin Corp. (American Bitcoin Corp. (ABTC)), World Liberty Financial, and the Official Trump (TRUMP) and Official Melania (MELANIA) memecoins.
Sanders described the prior legal dispute between Meta and Trump as a "bogus lawsuit," and paired that with the inauguration donation to paint a picture of political payback. The core question: Are government decisions that affect corporate costs being shaped by private payments and personal enrichment?
A White House spokesperson pushed back on conflict-of-interest claims, saying Trump's assets are held in a trust run by his children. But that hasn't quieted critics. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has also targeted the Trump family's crypto activity, calling it a "superhighway of crypto corruption." She previously urged Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to launch a federal review of Trump's crypto dealings.
The broader context here is the growing concern about how political donations influence corporate control and tax policy. Sanders has also criticized Larry Ellison's control of TikTok, noting that a restructuring allowed American investors to own 80.1% of a new entity while ByteDance retained a minority stake. That deal, like the Meta one, raises questions about oligarchic control and regulatory compliance.
So, is this a case of smart business or something more troubling? Sanders and Warren are betting the public will see it as the latter. Whether it leads to any real change remains to be seen.
