Chris Murphy Delivers Brutal Takedown Of Trump Administration's 'Corruption' Amid Qatari Gift Controversy

Forbes Breaking News

During remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) spoke about President Trump's business dealings with Gulf States.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. President.

00:02Mr. President, usually public corruption happens in secret.

00:08The politicians that do it, they know it's wrong to accept money in exchange for favorable

00:14government treatment, and so they hide it until they're found out.

00:18A textbook example would be Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards, who in the 1990s was quietly

00:24taking bribes from businessmen who wanted to get licenses for riverboat casinos.

00:28In the late 1990s, Edwards was convicted of the crimes of extortion, racketeering, money

00:33laundering.

00:35The way in which he was doing it was like out of a movie.

00:38In one instance, a businessman handed the governor a suitcase full of $100 bills totaling $400,000,

00:47all in order to get a 6-0 commission ruling in favor of this casino.

00:52Eventually, as with most all corrupt officials who are taking money privately, Edwards

00:58was discovered, he was disgraced, and he went to jail.

01:02As we speak, our president, Donald Trump, is going to the Middle East on a public corruption

01:10tour.

01:11He's no less corrupt than Edwin Edwards of Louisiana.

01:16In fact, he's way more corrupt.

01:19Edwin Edwards took $400,000.

01:21Well, in the Middle East, Donald Trump will cement deals totaling in the billions in exchange

01:32for favorable treatment by the U.S. federal government for these Gulf countries.

01:38The key difference is that Donald Trump isn't hiding it like other corrupt officials are.

01:44He's not ashamed.

01:45He's not doing it in secret.

01:47His corruption is wildly public, and his hope is that by doing it publicly, he can con the

01:54American people into thinking that it's not corruption because he's not hiding it.

01:57But what he's doing in reality is no different than any other corrupt public official who does

02:04it in private, other than the fact that Trump's corruption, his foreign policy corruption, is

02:10just so much bigger in scope and the impact that it has on the American people than anything

02:17a corrupt mayor or a corrupt governor may have done.

02:21Trump's first major foreign trip, and he just landed, is to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE.

02:28Not because these are our most important allies in the world.

02:33Not because these are the most important countries in the world.

02:37Not because he's going there to talk about making the Middle East more safe and more secure.

02:42No, his first trip is to these three countries because these are the three countries that have

02:48agreed to pay Donald Trump money.

02:51Donald Trump is going to collect tribute, and it's all just out in the open.

02:57Frankly, it's pretty easy to see this coming.

03:00Recent former presidents, Republicans and Democrats, have always very seriously and studiously avoided

03:05even the appearance of a conflict of interest.

03:08President Bush placed his assets into a qualified blind trust where investment decisions were made

03:13without his knowledge or input.

03:16Both Biden and Obama divested all of their assets except for cash and mutual funds.

03:22They didn't enter into any new business ventures well in the White House.

03:26In contrast, Trump has refused to abide by these standard ethics rules.

03:30His family runs his business, but nobody honestly believes that the kids are really in charge.

03:35President Trump is still calling the shots.

03:37His interests are not in a blind trust.

03:39He's made no pledge that he won't do new deals, even with foreign entities while he's

03:44in office.

03:45In fact, he is doing deals seemingly every single week.

03:50He's open for business, and every foreign government knows it.

03:53In fact, it appears that right now the Gulf states are trying to outdo each other to up the price

04:01of buying an American president.

04:04And because Trump is greedy and he's insecure, he wants to fit in with the billionaire class,

04:09he is traveling to the region with his hat out for further solicitations.

04:13So let's ask, what is the going rate right now for a Gulf country to buy access to Donald Trump

04:21to get favorable treatment from the federal government?

04:24For Qatar, we recently found out it's a $400 million luxury plane.

04:31This plane has been opulately configured for royal use.

04:36It's not a gift to the U.S. government.

04:38It's a personal gift to the president.

04:43The terms of the arrangement apparently include a stipulation that after Trump leaves office,

04:48it will be transferred to Trump, to his presidential library, which means Trump gets the so-called

04:54floating palace for himself.

04:57This is outrageous.

05:00We've never seen anything like this before in American history.

05:04A foreign government gifting a $400 million luxury plane to the president of the United States.

05:13This is spelled out as blatantly unconstitutional by our founding fathers.

05:20They wrote into the Constitution a specific clause called the Emoluments Clause,

05:24which prohibits federal officeholders from accepting gifts from any king, prince,

05:29or foreign state without the consent of Congress.

05:33Like, how much clearer could it be?

05:35It's unconstitutional.

05:36It's illegal.

05:37The founding fathers knew it was an evil to have members of Congress

05:41or the president of the United States accepting expensive gifts from a foreign nation

05:46who, in exchange, want favors from the U.S. government.

05:50Donald Trump's acceptance of the luxury plane from a foreign monarch

05:53is basically the corruption that our founding fathers were seeking to prevent.

05:59But that's not all he's getting from Qatar.

06:01The Trump organization recently signed a $5.5 billion golf course in real estate deal

06:07with Dar Global and Cuttery Dayar, a firm established by Cutter's sovereign wealth fund.

06:13$5.5 billion.

06:16Well, Trump's in office.

06:18It would have been unthinkable for any previous president to enter into a $5.5 billion business deal

06:27with anybody, never mind a foreign government, while they are in office.

06:34And it still should be unthinkable.

06:37Now, Cutter is a U.S. ally.

06:38It's a very important ally.

06:41But they're a complicated country.

06:43They have their own interests, some of which do not overlap with ours.

06:46A foreign government like Cutter should not have a $5 billion chit hanging over the head

06:51of a sitting U.S. president.

06:53And they should not be gifting him a $400 million plane.

06:58That should kind of go without saying.

07:01For Saudi Arabia, the price is also in the billions.

07:04Soon after leaving the White House,

07:06in Trump's first term, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner,

07:11created a private equity firm and got a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia.

07:17The board of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund questioned

07:22whether this was smart to invest that much money in a totally unproven fund.

07:27But the Saudi crown prince himself overruled the board,

07:32undoubtedly seeing the political advantage of investing directly with the Trump family.

07:37But this was only the beginning.

07:39The Trump family has put things into overdrive during the second term.

07:42Within his first three weeks of office,

07:44Trump convened a meeting at the White House

07:47with the head of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.

07:50Not to discuss matters of state,

07:54but to negotiate a deal between the PGA

07:57and the Saudi-backed LIV golf tour.

08:02You want to know why?

08:03To try to bring PGA tournaments back to Trump golf courses.

08:10Convened a meeting in the White House with the Saudis

08:12in order to enrich himself.

08:15In addition to the $5 billion cuttery real estate deal,

08:18the Trump organization is also partnering with a Saudi firm

08:21on a $1 billion Trump-branded hotel and tower in Dubai.

08:28The property's website,

08:30it's just like, this is like unbelievable.

08:33The property's website,

08:34this is a Trump-financed property,

08:38along with a Saudi investment fund,

08:41offers free 10-year golden visas to the United States,

08:46hinting at the opportunity for investors in Trump's property

08:50to buy residency in the United States

08:53and a pathway to citizenship.

08:56For the UAE,

08:58the price is somewhere north of $2 billion.

09:02Last week,

09:03Eric Trump and World Liberty Financial co-founder,

09:06Zach Witkoff,

09:08spoke at a conference in Dubai on crypto

09:11called Token 2049.

09:15As an aside here,

09:16it's just so fantastic and bone-chilling

09:19how transparent these guys are

09:22in their use of public positions to enrich themselves.

09:25I'm going to tell the story of Trump's stable coin

09:28and the corruption with the Emiratis,

09:31but let's just pause for a second

09:32and consider the fact

09:35that the Trump family could have partnered

09:37with anybody in the world

09:39on their new crypto venture,

09:43World Liberty Financial.

09:46But of all the people in the world

09:48to partner with on this new crypto venture,

09:51they chose the son of Trump's Middle East envoy.

09:56Trump's Middle East envoy,

09:58the guy who's making all the decisions

09:59on U.S. policy in the Middle East,

10:01just to make it crystal clear to the Gulf countries

10:04that when they deal with World Liberty Financial,

10:08Trump's crypto venture,

10:09that they are dealing directly

10:11with the people responsible

10:12for making U.S. policy in the Middle East.

10:15It's just stunning.

10:16Literally, the sons of the president

10:18and the sons of the Middle East envoy

10:20running a crypto venture

10:22and then going directly into the Middle East

10:25in order to find their first investment.

10:28And guess what?

10:29Miracle, they found it.

10:31MGX, an investment firm

10:34backed by the Emirati government

10:36at this conference,

10:38announced that they had looked

10:41at all the crypto companies in the world

10:43that they could partner with

10:44to invest $2 billion

10:45in the crypto exchange Binance

10:47and they selected,

10:48wait for it, drum roll,

10:50the company run by the sons

10:51of the president of the United States

10:53and the U.S. Middle East envoy.

10:57$2 billion.

10:58Now, World Liberty's role

11:03in this transaction

11:04is not that complicated.

11:05It's kind of similar to a bank.

11:07MGX, this Emirati firm,

11:09deposits $2 billion with the firm

11:12and in return receives the stable coin

11:14to be used on these crypto exchanges.

11:16The firm holds on to these dollars,

11:19invests them,

11:20and keeps the profits for themselves.

11:23So the Trump-Witkoff company

11:25just gets basically a gift of capital.

11:29And if they just use that $2 billion

11:31to invest in treasury bonds,

11:34it would profit around $85 million a year

11:39from these investments alone.

11:42And the money goes directly to Trump,

11:45just directly to Trump.

11:46It's literally not complicated.

11:48Emiratis, World Liberty Financial,

11:51Donald Trump.

11:51This isn't 1990s Louisiana.

11:55Nobody's hiding it.

11:56On World Liberty's website,

11:59they say,

12:01an entity affiliated with Donald J. Trump

12:03owns 60% of the equity in the company.

12:07And because of this deal,

12:11Trump and Witkoff can further capitalize

12:14because Trump's stable coin

12:15just became the fifth most valuable stable coin

12:20in the world

12:20because of the Emirati investment.

12:25And if the plane and the real estate deals

12:27and the private equity fund investment

12:28and the stable coin weren't enough for you,

12:31Trump has found one last way

12:32for Gulf money to flow seamlessly into his pocket.

12:35It's called the Trump meme coin.

12:37What's the business model here?

12:40Trump gets a huge payment

12:41whenever he releases a batch of these meme coins,

12:43which, by the way,

12:44have no underlying value

12:45other than just the demand

12:48that people have for Trump's coin.

12:52And then each time a Trump coin is bought or sold,

12:56a small fee is routed directly

12:57to the company owned by Trump.

12:59According to one analysis,

13:01nearly $325 million in fees

13:04have been accrued since the coin was launched in January.

13:07Just three months, four months,

13:09four and a half months,

13:11$325 million worth of fees.

13:16Trump hides the buyers of the coin.

13:19In this way, the meme coin

13:20is kind of a little bit like Louisiana corruption.

13:23But we know that the majority of the buyers

13:26aren't Americans

13:27who want to help Trump make this nation great again.

13:31The majority of the buyers of Trump coin

13:32are super rich foreigners,

13:34princes, oligarchs, authoritarians,

13:36who are buying the coin

13:38in order to get in good with Trump

13:39or to get something in exchange.

13:42Now, one great thing about buying the coin

13:46is that you get access to Trump and the White House.

13:48And again, they're not hiding this.

13:51Two weeks ago, Trump announced

13:53that he would host a private dinner at the White House

13:55with seats reserved exclusively

13:57for the top 220 Trump coin holders.

14:01In two days since the announcement,

14:03Trump's company made $900,000 in fees

14:07because everybody, mostly foreigners,

14:09many of them probably in the Gulf,

14:11were buying up the coin as quickly as they could

14:13in order to get one of these seats.

14:18If a mayor of a small town

14:20was selling meetings at City Hall

14:23for $1,000, he would be run out of town on a rail.

14:27But that's exactly what Donald Trump is doing

14:30in the Middle East and all over the world

14:31as foreign buyers line up to buy the meme coin

14:35guaranteed private access to Donald Trump

14:38at the White House.

14:41You cannot make this up.

14:44Now, the obvious question for the average American

14:46is, okay, what does this mean for me?

14:49Like somebody living in New Britain, Connecticut,

14:51you might think it's kind of gross.

14:53That Trump is lining his pockets as president,

14:55but they want to know,

14:56how does this actually affect me?

14:59Well, the most simple way to think about this

15:01is that if the guy that you elected to protect us

15:03and make our lives better

15:05is spending most of his time

15:07alternating between playing golf

15:09and cutting deals for himself,

15:10he's not protecting you.

15:13He's not spending any time

15:14trying to lower costs or defeat our enemies.

15:16Corruption, it can be a full-time job for Donald Trump.

15:19And that's a pretty lousy deal

15:20for the American people.

15:21But more importantly,

15:22when our foreign policy is for sale,

15:25we are less safe.

15:27Let me give you an example

15:29relative to the trip that Donald Trump is on right now.

15:32These countries aren't padding Donald Trump's pockets

15:34because they like him.

15:35They are paying him in order to get things

15:37from the federal government,

15:39from the U.S. government,

15:40without having to make any actual policy concessions

15:43that would benefit the U.S. people.

15:46Before anybody could begin to process

15:49the brazen corruption of the UAE-Trump-Witkoff crypto deal,

15:53reports very quickly emerged

15:56that the Trump administration

15:57was considering changing regulations

15:59to make it easier for the country of UAE

16:03to purchase highly advanced semiconductors

16:06from U.S. manufacturers.

16:08This was a huge priority of the Emiratis.

16:13But the restrictions are on the UAE for a reason.

16:18The UAE has a very troubling

16:21and very close security relationship with China.

16:25And so the reason why we didn't allow U.S. companies

16:28to sell semiconductors directly to the UAE

16:31is because we believe that it would very easily

16:33become a conduit to China getting their hand

16:36on these advanced semiconductors

16:37and being able to leapfrog the United States

16:40in the business of advanced AI.

16:44But all of a sudden, once the cash payment to Trump

16:47through the crypto venture was announced,

16:49Trump signaled that he was willing

16:50to throw our security concerns out the window

16:53and transfer this sensitive technology to the UAE,

16:56even though it's likely that China

16:58will get their hands on this technology,

17:00allowing China to put themselves in a position

17:03to leapfrog us in the race for advanced AI.

17:06That would be a disaster for the American people.

17:08But that's what's happening.

17:11We might hand AI leadership to China

17:14because that's the price of Trump getting paid.

17:17And as long as he gets paid,

17:18he doesn't seem to care about the impact

17:21on regular Americans.

17:24The White House is open for business.

17:27And the Trump family is proudly advertising

17:29to the world where to send the check.

17:31They aren't trying to hide it.

17:34A $400 million luxury plane

17:37gifted to the President of the United States

17:39right as he is going over to negotiate

17:42potentially sensitive security arrangements

17:44with the Gulf countries.

17:46Every American, every Republican,

17:48every supposed national security advocate

17:51in the Senate should be outraged by this.

17:54We can look the other way

17:56or we could join together,

17:59Republicans and Democrats,

18:00to stand up for this country

18:01and do something about it.

18:04I've joined with Senators Schatz and Coons and Booker

18:07to introduce a resolution

18:08condemning the acceptance of the plane.

18:13It's a blatant violation of the Emoluments Clause.

18:15We could stand together as a Senate

18:17to vote for that resolution.

18:18I've introduced legislation

18:20to make it illegal

18:21for presidents or members of Congress

18:23and their family members

18:25to profit off of crypto coins

18:26while they hold federal office.

18:28We could join together in that effort.

18:30I will personally seek to block

18:33any arms sale

18:34that is announced as part of this trip

18:38with a country

18:40that is personally investing

18:42in Donald Trump and his family.

18:45I will force a full Senate debate

18:47and a vote on these sales.

18:48Foreign leaders need to know

18:49that there will be a price

18:50for participating in the corruption

18:52of the American presidency.

18:57This level of corruption

18:59is so gross

19:01that even Trump's most hardened

19:03MAGA sycophants

19:05are turning against him.

19:07I didn't think I'd see the day,

19:09but people like Ben Shapiro

19:10and Laura Loomer,

19:11who fawn over Trump,

19:13can't believe he is so crass

19:15as to think that it's okay

19:17to accept planes

19:19as a gift

19:20in exchange

19:22for U.S. national security concessions.

19:26This isn't America first.

19:28This is not what he promised

19:29the American people.

19:31This is Trump first.

19:33He is willing to put

19:34our nation's security at risk,

19:37take unconstitutional bribes,

19:38just so he can fly himself

19:40and his Mar-a-Lago golf buddies

19:42around the world

19:43in gold-plated luxury planes

19:46gifted to him

19:47by foreign governments,

19:48all while at the same time

19:50he tells Americans

19:51that they should be okay

19:53buying fewer school supplies

19:56for their kids

19:57or fewer birthday presents

19:59for their grandchildren

20:01because he's driving prices up

20:04for non-billionaires

20:06in this country,

20:06all while at the same time

20:08he's kicking 13 million people

20:11off of their health care.

20:13Trump lines his pockets,

20:15he corrupts our foreign policy

20:17to enrich himself

20:18while driving up prices

20:20and stealing health care

20:21from average Americans.

20:22It's a national security disaster

20:24and it's a moral abomination.

20:27I yield the floor.

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