Watchdogs Launch 'No Corporate Cabinet' Site Targeting Trump Appointees

A coalition of watchdog groups on Monday launched a "No Corporate Cabinet" website raising the alarm about "persons of interest" who were selected to serve in Republican U.S. President Donald Trump's second administration.

"No American executive branch has ever been entirely free of corrupting influence—but this administration appears to be nearly free of anything or anyone that isn't corporate," said Jeff Hauser, executive director and founder of Revolving Door Project, in a statement. "No Corporate Cabinet will be a vehicle by which we can monitor the people who appear to be in government for the purpose of gaining greater wealth and power for themselves and their friends and family."

The website, NoCorporateCabinet.org, came just a week after Inauguration Day. Along with Hauser's group, it is backed by Demand Progress Education Fund, Justice Democrats, Progressive Change Institute, and RootsAction.

"No Corporate Cabinet will be a vehicle by which we can monitor the people who appear to be in government for the purpose of gaining greater wealth and power for themselves and their friends and family."

So far, it features six individuals: Paul Atkins, a Wall Street ally nominated to be Securities and Exchange Commission chair; Scott Bessent, a hedge fund founder and fossil fuel investor nominated to be treasury secretary; Frank Bisignano, a bank executive nominated to be Social Security Administration commissioner; Linda McMahon: a billionaire and former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO nominated to be education secretary; David Sacks: a Big Tech venture capitalist named as Trump's artificial intelligence and crypto czar; and Chris Wright, a fracking executive nominated to be energy secretary.

"Whether inside or outside of government, Paul Atkins... has spent his whole career undermining the federal government's regulation of Wall Street," states the website, highlighting his opposition to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, climate disclosure policies, and investors considering environmental, social, and governance factors. The site adds that he also "frequently disapproved of enforcement actions" and "has long disparaged progressive efforts to shape corporate behavior while praising conservative efforts to dominate politics."

Bessent—whom the Senate is set to vote on Monday evening—is "a former investor for billionaire George Soros" who "made a name for himself by bringing down the British economy in the 'Black Wednesday' scandal of the 1990s," the site says, pointing to investments in oil and gas as well as companies including Meta, Monsanto, and Palantir.

Bisignano "has spent his professional career working for the big banks, prioritizing the corporate profits of the financial industry over the concerns of everyday Americans, for example supporting organizations that support raising the retirement age," the website details. "Bisignano has no experience in government and should have no role in the Trump administration, he would simply represent yet another corporate voice who has been rewarded for their financial support of Donald Trump."

Although Trump has teased dismantling the U.S. Department of Education entirely, in the meantime, he has tapped scandal-plagued McMahon to lead it—despite allegations that she has, as End Rape on Campus CEO Kenyora Parham recently put it, a "documented history of enabling sexual abuse of children and sweeping sexual violence under the rug."

McMahon also "denied health oversight and coverage for her workers, helped bust unions, seems to have dodged federal lawsuits over widespread steroid abuse, ignored her workers' deaths," and " became something of a Republican megadonor," the new website notes. During Trump's first presidency, she led the Small Business Administration.

Sacks "reportedly did not want to step down from his VC firm, Craft Ventures," so he is serving in "a part-time, nonformal role" and "could serve up to 130 days a year without divesting or publicly disclosing his assets," the site explains. "Sacks' long and documented history as a vocal and inflammatory conservative voice does not bode well for the development of egalitarian AI models that prioritize public benefit over innovation."

The full Senate hasn't yet voted on Wright, but his confirmation hearing earlier this month was disrupted by the arrest of climate activists with the youth-led Sunrise Movement—whose executive director, Aru Shiney-Ajay, said: "The climate crisis is here. Oil and gas CEOs like Chris Wright have blood on their hands, and they have no place in our government."

Wright "was the CEO and co-founder of Liberty Energy, an oilfield service and fracking company, and sat on the board of small modular nuclear reactor start-up Oklo," which was "initially denied approval for a nuclear reactor in Idaho after providing inadequate information regarding safety measures," the new site says. "Wright regularly makes public statements downplaying the effects of climate change, carbon pollution, and the environmental impacts of fracking."

Sean Vitka, policy director at Demand Progress Education Fund, said Monday that "Wall Street, Big Tech, Big Pharma, dirty energy, and other corporate interests are only interested in maximizing profits."

"Executives, lobbyists, and donors are reshaping government services and regulatory oversight to enrich corporate America at the expense of everyday Americans," he added. "No Corporate Cabinet calls out the Trump administration for empowering those who prey on Americans on behalf of billionaires and corporations."