US President Donald Trump delivers a speech about the economy at Rockland Community College Fieldhouse in Suffern, New York, on May 22, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
Press TV
A $9.7 billion Pentagon contract awarded to Dell Technologies has reignited scrutiny over President Donald Trump’s pattern of using public office to enrich himself, a pattern watchdogs say is becoming impossible to ignore.
The Department of War announced this week that Dell’s federal subsidiary will oversee Microsoft software procurement across the US military, intelligence community, and Coast Guard. Within days, Dell’s stock surged.
The announcement came a few weeks after Trump purchased the company’s stocks and praised it on several occasions.
On Feb. 10, Trump’s portfolio acquired Dell stock valued between $1 million and $5 million. Nine days later, at a Georgia rally, he told supporters to “go out and buy a Dell computer.” Three more Dell stock purchases followed in March.
Over the spring, Trump continued to praise Dell at public events, most recently giving the company a shout-out during a White House Rose Garden luncheon.
“This absolutely does ring alarm bells with regard to conflicts of interest,” said Greg Williams, director of the Center for Defense Information at the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight, according to the Detroit News.
Dell’s founder, Michael Dell, sits on Trump’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and has appeared at White House events.
The Dell deal is not an isolated case. Trump’s latest financial disclosure revealed tens of millions in other well-timed trades — including purchases of Microsoft and Amazon stock months before the Pentagon announced contracts deploying their technology in classified networks.
Unlike previous presidents who used blind trusts managed by independent parties, Trump’s assets are held in a trust run by his own children.
This comes as US presidents are exempt from conflict-of-interest laws that bind other federal employees. Margaret Dylus-Yukins, senior legal counsel at the Campaign Legal Center and a former Office of Government Ethics lawyer, noted that “the ethics norm has been for presidents to historically avoid even the appearance of self-enrichment.”
“The fact that President Trump promoted a company owned by his friend that he also invests in does, indeed, create an appearance of a conflict of interest,” she said.
Williams called on Congress to close the loophole, warning the country cannot keep “relying on the president’s own sense of integrity rather than law to avoid conflicts of interest.”
The Dell contract fits a broader picture of gaining profits by Trump and his team. Trump also recently dropped a lawsuit against the IRS — an agency he oversees — as part of a deal that created a nearly $1.8 billion Justice Department fund for those claiming to be victims of a “weaponized” justice system. The agreement bars the IRS from pursuing existing tax claims against Trump, his family, or his businesses.
Meanwhile, the self-dealing extends well beyond domestic markets.
Senator Jon Ossoff, speaking at the annual Georgia Democratic gala, slammed Trump and his allies for profiting from the administration’s unprovoked military aggression against Iran, which began on February 28.
The war, Ossoff said, is costing the United States its “national power and wealth” while forcing families to “pay more for everything.”
“Rest assured, the Mar-a-Lago mafia are finding ways to profit because, of course, they are,” Ossoff said.
He cited a Financial Times report revealing that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s broker sought to buy into a defense fund ahead of the attacks. A company partly owned by Trump’s sons Eric and Don Jr. has been pitching drone interceptors to Persian Gulf monarchies. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, is reportedly on the Saudi payroll for $2 billion while leading Iran negotiations.
Then there was the oil trading. “Hundreds of millions of dollars in oil futures,” Ossoff noted, placed just minutes before a Trump Truth Social post moved oil prices by 13%.
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