Trump’s ‘unseemly’ settlement stunt rips the ‘aura’ out of his own agency: expert

President Donald Trump's latest bid to stamp his name on government work is drawing a sharp rebuke from the agency's own veterans.Millions of Americans receiving settlement checks from Amazon are finding the payments credited to "President Trump's Federal Trade Commission," a move two former FTC officials told Politico on Wednesday is without precedent. The phrase appears three times in a notice accompanying the checks, which stem from a $2.5 billion settlement the company agreed to in 2025 over allegations it tricked customers into Prime subscriptions.Stephen Calkins, a Wayne State University law professor who served as FTC general counsel from 1995 to 1997, said he knew of no earlier case where a president's name appeared in a consumer refund communication."Making such a claim is unseemly and unfortunate," Calkins told Politico. "I regret very much that this once-proud independent agency is now being used to promote the Trump brand."Bill Kovacic, who led...