- 3 months ago
During remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) spoke about arms deals between the US and Qatar and the UAE.
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00:00I want to start by thanking my friend and colleague, Senator Murphy, for shining a
00:09light on this issue of corruption, because the corruption that we are seeing from President
00:18Trump is unprecedented in scale and scope in our nation's history.
00:24It's infecting our democracy here at home, and it's corrupting our foreign policy around
00:31the world.
00:33We will soon be debating here in the United States Senate what President Trump calls his
00:39big, beautiful bill.
00:41Well it is a big bill, but it's only beautiful if you're a billionaire or a very wealthy American,
00:49because he gives those big tax breaks to very wealthy people at the expense of everybody
00:54else in America.
00:56We've heard of the cuts to Medicaid and food and nutrition programs, and the fact that
01:01even after that it will drive a huge hole, upward hole in our deficit.
01:08But there's one billionaire that President Trump is especially focused on making sure
01:14does well, and that's himself, and his family, and his family's business.
01:22And we've seen a great example of that corruption here at home with the meme coin.
01:30This is the coin that Trump put together, and he said that he's going to reward the people
01:38who buy the most of this meme coin by meeting with him personally at his golf course in Virginia.
01:47And so people all over the world scurried to purchase that meme coin in order to get an
01:53audience with the President.
01:55Because having an audience with the President means you get a chance to influence the President.
02:01And many people from around the world, including China, purchase those meme coins to buy that
02:07influence.
02:09And people should understand that the President's business makes money whether the value of that
02:15meme coin goes up or whether it goes down.
02:17Every time there's a transaction to buy or sell that meme coin, the Trump business makes money.
02:26So other people can get totally hosed, but it's a win-win for President Trump and his family.
02:34In fact, it's estimated that in the early days of launching this, they made about $350 million.
02:43So that's the meme coin here at home.
02:46What brings us to the floor today is how this personal corruption is infecting the foreign policy
02:54of the United States.
02:56Because all of us hope and expect that when the President of the United States goes overseas
03:02to conduct American foreign policy, they have the interests of America first.
03:07Donald Trump says it himself, America first.
03:10That's not what President Trump has foremost in his mind when he travels overseas.
03:18What he has foremost in his mind right now is the bottom line for his personal profit.
03:23Donald Trump literally selling the office of the presidency.
03:26You might as well open the White House and make it an Airbnb.
03:31So let's talk about the details of how this is unfolding and how it's hurting the United
03:38States of America.
03:42On his first major overseas trip, Donald Trump went to three countries in the Middle East, Gulf
03:52countries.
03:53He went to Saudi Arabia, he went to the United Arab Emirates, the UAE, and he went to Qatar.
04:01Now normally before the President of the United States takes one of these important overseas
04:07trips, they send out the diplomats to help work out important U.S. foreign policy objectives
04:17and goals with these countries.
04:20To make sure that the interests of the United States of America are put first.
04:25In the case of this trip to these three Gulf countries, again, the first major overseas
04:32trip President Trump took, it was his son, Eric Trump, who went out to the region two weeks
04:40in advance.
04:43And what did Eric Trump do when he was there?
04:46Was he talking about foreign policy?
04:48No.
04:49He was talking about doing deals for the Trump family business.
04:56And so let's zero in on some of the deals that he worked on.
05:01Let's start by what happened in Qatar.
05:05Because it was about two weeks before President Trump arrived there that Eric Trump worked with
05:13Qatar to partner the Trump Organization on a $5.5 billion Trump-branded golf course and
05:22real estate development deal.
05:23It should be pointed out that Qatar has also invested over a billion dollars in a private
05:29equity fund for Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in a deal announced in 2024 after Donald Trump's
05:38most recent election victory.
05:42And now, as Senator Murphy pointed out, then Trump asked Qatar to give him as a gift this
05:52jumbo jet plane to use as Air Force One and potentially to keep for later on.
05:59As part of his presidential library.
06:04And so Qatar, for the reasons that Senator Murphy indicated, felt apparently compelled to comply
06:14with this wish from the President of the United States.
06:16The President of the United States has a lot of influence in the region.
06:21And Qatar has been on the losing end of that influence in the first Trump administration.
06:27And so Qatar gave Donald Trump, at Donald Trump's request, a $400 million jumbo jet, what the
06:36President calls the palace in the sky.
06:39It's complete with a 55-inch TV, leather sofas, wood paneling, the works.
06:47And during this whole period of time, you know, Qatar has also wanted to make sure it establishes
06:55a solid relationship with the United States and specifically with the Trump administration.
07:01And the Trump administration had noticed a major arms sales to Qatar, $1.9 billion weapon
07:09package, complete with Predator drones, 500-pound bombs, and Hellfire II missiles.
07:18So all of this gets caught up together in the major corrupt deals that are being put forth
07:27in order to enrich the Trump family, not advance the national security interests of the United
07:34States.
07:35Now let me turn to the United Arab Emirates, the UAE.
07:41Because in this case, the corruption is at least as bad, probably more so.
07:49So once again, in the case of the UAE, before President Trump went to the region, it wasn't
07:56the State Department emissaries that went out.
07:58I thought it was Eric Trump on behalf of the Trump family businesses.
08:03In this case, it was a new cryptocurrency stable coin enterprise launched by the Trump family
08:12called World Liberty Financial.
08:16Now World Liberty Financial is 60 percent owned by the Trump family.
08:21As Senator Murphy pointed out, one of the co-founders is actually Zach Witkoff, a last name that you
08:29might know because his dad, Steve Witkoff, is Donald Trump, President Trump's major Middle
08:35East envoy, going to places like Qatar as part of the Middle East negotiations with both respect
08:44to Iran and Gaza.
08:47So two weeks before Donald Trump goes to the region, his son Eric Trump goes on behalf of the family
08:53business along with Zach Witkoff, the son of the President's special Middle East envoy.
09:02So what happens when Eric Trump, the President's son, goes to the UAE?
09:08Now they soon after announced that MGX, which is a UAE government-backed investment firm, would
09:18use Trump's new stable coin, a new stable coin called USD1 or $1 to close a new $2 billion investment
09:31in the cryptocurrency exchange, Binance.
09:35So by putting $2 billion into the Trump stable coin enterprise, putting that into circulation,
09:44the UAE turned an unknown stable coin company into one of the biggest players in the world
09:51overnight.
09:53Overnight the value of that company shot up with the action that the UAE took with the
10:00$2 billion.
10:02And the Trump family stands to make tens of millions of dollars every year from that deal
10:07alone.
10:08Now, Mr. President, I doubt that the Emirati investment firm went with a Trump-branded cryptocurrency
10:18for its $2 billion investment because Eric Trump put together the best slide deck for the
10:24pitch meeting.
10:27Somehow I think it's because he was the son of the President of the United States who was
10:31going to be arriving in the UAE two weeks later.
10:36So I want everybody to hold that deal in their head.
10:40Just put a pin in it for a minute.
10:42Right?
10:43Eric Trump, President's son, goes to the UAE two weeks before President Trump arrives and
10:50does this crypto deal, $2 billion crypto deal.
10:55So two weeks later, the President of the United States arrives in the UAE and what happens?
11:03President Trump gives away some of the most sensitive, advanced American technology.
11:12In fact, the crown jewels of American AI technology and semi-computers.
11:23The previous administration, President Biden had restricted the flow of this very sensitive
11:30AI technology to places like the UAE because of a fear of what's known as diversion.
11:38That that technology would not be safe in the hands of the UAE without really important
11:44safeguards in place.
11:49Because the UAE has a partnership with the United States, but it also has very close relations
11:54with China, the PRC.
11:57And so there's been well-documented concern about the real risk that very sensitive American
12:04AI technology would go to China.
12:07I would also point out that the UAE has made it its ambition to become one of the AI leaders
12:14in the world.
12:14And so they obviously will benefit greatly from getting the very best technology, the highest
12:20compute power that the United States can provide them.
12:26Now interestingly, it was the day before President Trump departed to the UAE and Qatar and Saudi
12:35Arabia that the Trump administration rolled back the important safeguards the Biden administration
12:45had placed on the transfer of this very sensitive AI technology.
12:50They rolled it back as the president was about to take off to go visit the UAE.
13:00Now this deal, this deal that was cut where the United States agreed to lift its limitations
13:10on the transfer of this technology really does compromise the national security interests
13:18of the United States.
13:19Mr. President, a group of us wrote a letter led by Senator Warren, it was signed by Leader
13:27Schumer, also by the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, Senator Reid, the ranking
13:31member of the Intelligence Committee, Senator Warner, Senator Coons and others.
13:35And here's what we wrote.
13:37These deals greenlight the sale of sensitive US technology in exchange for illusory promises
13:43of foreign investment.
13:45If completed, they will present an immediate threat to US national security and over the
13:50long term may irreversibly erode US leadership in artificial intelligence by offshoring American
13:58technology and jobs.
14:00So that's what the president did just two weeks after the UAE said it would invest two billion
14:10dollars in the Trump family business crypto exchange, letting that skyrocket to very valuable
14:19levels.
14:22I will point out, Mr. President, that it wasn't only Democrats who have expressed concern about
14:29the risks of transferring this sensitive AI technology to the UAE.
14:34In fact, during the Biden administration, the Republican chairman of the House Select Committee
14:41on China wrote to the president, actually wrote to the president's then national security advisor,
14:49Jake Sullivan, expressing exactly these kind of concerns.
14:55It was a letter dated July 10th, 2024.
14:59It's a short letter.
15:00It's a short letter.
15:01Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be entered in the record.
15:04Without objection.
15:05Thank you, Mr. President.
15:07Now, here's an important thing for everybody to understand.
15:14When Eric Trump went two weeks before Donald Trump's trip, and when he did that deal where
15:24a UAE-owned company put two billion dollars into the Trump family stablecoin business, that
15:33was with a company called MGX.
15:35The chairman of that company is a member of the royal family.
15:45His name is Sheikh Tanun.
15:47He's also known as TBZ.
15:50He's a real entrepreneur, and he does look out for the interests of the UAE.
15:57So he does this deal with Eric Trump, but guess what else he's the chairman of?
16:04He's the chairman of G42, which is the, again, Emirati state-owned business that cut the AI
16:14deal with the Trump administration.
16:16So the guy who's the chairman of the company that put two billion dollars into the Trump
16:24family stablecoin business is also the chairman of the company G42 that was the beneficiary
16:31of Donald Trump's giveaway of very sensitive U.S. AI technology.
16:40Now look, when it comes to Sheikh Tanun, you know, I've met him.
16:47He's a good businessman.
16:49He was looking out for the interests of the UAE when he got that deal where the United States
16:55government will give the UAE all this AI technology.
17:00So he was looking out for the interests of the UAE.
17:03The problem is that it was President Trump who wasn't looking out for the interests of
17:08the United States of America.
17:10He was looking out for the interests of his family business.
17:14He literally gave away the sensitive technology two weeks after the UAE invested two billion
17:22dollars in the Trump family new launch stablecoin.
17:27And at the same time, like in the Qatar situation, this was accompanied by a request from President
17:34Trump for a $1.3 billion arms sale to the UAE.
17:40Now, Mr. President, that arms sale is part of the overall corrupt bargain that the Trump administration
17:50struck with the UAE, it also ignores what the UAE is doing right now as we speak with respect
18:00to the terrible war and conflict in Sudan.
18:05Because the UAE has been sending weapons to an organization, a murderous organization, called
18:14the Rapid Support Forces.
18:16The Rapid Support Forces have been engaged in all sorts of atrocities.
18:25And during the Biden administration, President Biden met with the UAE leaders and asked for
18:32assurances that they would no longer be providing weapons to this murderous group, and thought
18:39he had received those assurances.
18:40But the reality is, right at the end of the Biden administration, at my request, I asked
18:46for a briefing, and it turns out that the U.S. has determined that the UAE is continuing
18:52to provide weapons to this murderous group, which the United States government has found
18:59is committing genocide in Darfur as we speak.
19:04And so on top of all the corruption that's part of this deal, we have the Trump administration
19:12greenlighting and arms transfer to the UAE, at the same time the UAE is transferring weapons
19:19to a murderous group in Sudan that is committing genocide.
19:24And here's what the State Department's own assessment says.
19:28The Rapid Support Forces and allied militias have systematically murdered men and boys,
19:33even infants, on an ethnic basis, and deliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic
19:39groups for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence.
19:43Those same militias have targeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people, escaping conflict,
19:48and preventing remaining civilians from accessing life-saving supplies.
19:54So there are lots of reasons we shouldn't go forward with this arms sale, partly because
19:58it's part of an overall corrupt deal with the Trump administration, but also because
20:02of the UAE's ongoing actions.
20:07So let me really close with this, Mr. President.
20:12We do expect the President of the United States, when he travels overseas, to be looking out for
20:18American interests.
20:20In this case, it's very clear President Trump was going out to look out for his own interests.
20:26In the case of the Middle East, it doesn't even seem that he raised the issue of the
20:32genocide in Sudan during his trip to the UAE, while he was following up on the corrupt deals.
20:40And the President also, I think people will remember, said he was going to end the war
20:43in Gaza on day one.
20:45That he was going to bring back the hostages and end the absolute, awful humanitarian disaster
20:51we're witnessing right now, with literally hundreds of thousands, not millions of innocent
20:59Palestinians, dying of starvation, civilians.
21:04But instead of looking at working the Gaza issue or these other foreign policy priorities,
21:09the President was there for himself.
21:13And it's sending a terrible message.
21:14Other countries are getting that message.
21:17Others say that Vietnam is making way for a Trump gulf complex to get lower tariffs and
21:23that Serbia is demolishing a historic building to fast track a Trump hotel in Belgrade.
21:29Mr. President, we cannot allow our foreign policy to be corrupted in this way.
21:36And the one way we can send that signal and that message right now is by voting yes on these
21:43joint resolutions of disapproval on these arms sales because they're part of the overall
21:51corrupt package.
21:52So I urge my colleagues to vote yes.
21:56And I now yield the floor to my friend, the Senator from Vermont.
22:01Well, let me thank Senator Van Hollen for his leadership on this important issue.
22:09And thank Senators Murphy, Kane, who yielded to me, I think is recognized.
22:17Let me thank Senator Van Hollen for his leadership on this issue as well as Senators Murphy, Kane,
22:22Merkley, and Schatz, who are leading the effort to make sure that we pass these joint resolutions
22:32of disapproval.
22:35Mr. President, joint resolutions of disapproval are about denying military assistance to countries
22:44who break U.S. and international law.
22:47That's all they're about.
22:50Don't break the law.
22:53These resolutions before us today would prevent multi-billion dollar arms sales to both the
23:01UAE and Qatar precisely because both of these countries have violated U.S. and international
23:10law and allowing these sales to go forward would be a dereliction in the duties of the United
23:17States Senate.
23:19Let me take a moment to say a few words about these countries, countries who would receive
23:28billions of dollars in military aid.
23:31As it happens, both of these countries are strongly authoritarian, anti-democratic governments
23:41that repress any forms of dissent.
23:46We talk a lot about protests here in the United States.
23:49Well, they don't have protests in Qatar.
23:52They don't have protests in UAE.
23:54You protest, you go to jail.
23:58These are countries who exploit migrant labor.
24:03And these are countries who treat women as third-class citizens.
24:08In the UAE and Qatar, where the ruling families are worth many hundreds of billions of dollars,
24:18there are no elections.
24:21There is no freedom of the press.
24:24There is no freedom of speech.
24:28The ruling families of both of these countries are among the wealthiest and most powerful oligarchs
24:36in the entire world.
24:40Mr. President, in the UAE's case, in recent years they have provided extensive military assistance to the so-called
24:49Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, the RSF.
24:54This paramilitary group started the bloody civil war in that country and is responsible for numerous horrific atrocities
25:05that, among other things, have contributed to the famine and starvation that is currently taking place in that country.
25:16In January, the U.S. State Department concluded that the RSF, supported by the UAE, the country who would get weapons
25:28if we are not successful in opposing that, has committed ethnic cleansing.
25:34I'm not quite sure why we would support arms to a country involved in ethnic cleansing.
25:44Clearly, the actions of the UAE are in violation of U.S. and international law.
25:54There is no reason, therefore, that we should be providing billions more in arms sales to this country.
26:03The other arms sale we are objecting to today would go to Qatar, a country which has also broken U.S. and international law.
26:13Qatar has channeled hundreds of millions of dollars into a wide variety of political organizations in the Middle East,
26:23including the Hamas terrorist organization.
26:28And I have no understanding as to why anybody in the United States Senate would be voting to support a nation,
26:38providing military aid to a nation that has provided financial assistance to Hamas.
26:45And while Qatar deserves credit for attempting to facilitate a ceasefire in Gaza,
26:52it should also be noted that the political leaders of Hamas have resided in Qatar for many years.
27:01But, Mr. President, there is another very serious problem regarding military aid to both Qatar and the UAE.
27:11Both of these countries, in a variety of ways, have attempted to corrupt our political system and the President of the United States,
27:21in violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution and United States anti-corruption laws.
27:30I find it interesting, as I'm sure millions of Americans do, that President Trump's first major foreign policy trip was not to Europe,
27:43to reaffirm our long-standing alliances with other democratic countries.
27:50It was not to visit our neighbors in Canada or Mexico.
27:55No, instead he chose, on his very first foreign trip, to go to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE.
28:05Now, why was that?
28:07Why would the President of the United States go to visit countries that are run by oligarchs,
28:14are strongly anti-democratic, and oppress the rights of women?
28:20Kind of funny places for a President, the so-called leader of the free world, to visit on his first foreign policy trip.
28:30Well, I think we now know the answer to that question.
28:35Trump went for the money and to secure business deals for himself, his family, and his cronies.
28:45Shortly before Trump's visit to the Gulf, an investment firm owned by the UAE announced
28:52that it would use the so-called stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial
29:00to facilitate a $2 billion cryptocurrency deal.
29:06World Liberty Financial just happens to be 60% owned by Trump and his family.
29:13So by making this deal, the UAE was effectively giving the Trump family $2 billion in cash
29:22to invest as it wishes and keep the proceeds.
29:26Even conservative estimates of such a sum would generate somewhere around $85 million in profit a year
29:34for the Trump family.
29:36Think about that.
29:38The UAE is directly giving the Trump family some $85 million a year.
29:45Now, what did the UAE get in return?
29:48They don't give away $85 million for nothing.
29:52In Cutter's case, that government announced during a Trump's visit
29:58that they would give him a $400 million luxury jet for use as Air Force One,
30:07which he plans to keep for personal use after he leaves office.
30:15So, necessary security and communications updates will cost the taxpayers of our country millions of dollars
30:25and take several years.
30:27So if this plane is actually ever used by the U.S. government,
30:33it will only be for a year or two.
30:36But that is really not Donald Trump's concerns.
30:42Because he gets to keep this flying palace, this $400 million plane,
30:50for use for himself and his family forever.
30:56Not a bad gift, $400 million plane.
31:00Once again, it is pretty obvious what Trump gets from this deal.
31:05Not quite so clear how the American people benefit.
31:10Cutter also announced that it was just coincidentally
31:14financing a $5.5 billion Trump-branded golf course
31:20and invested another billion dollars
31:23in Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's company
31:27just for good measure.
31:29Now, what are these authoritarian governments getting in return
31:35for the many hundreds of millions of dollars
31:37they are funneling to Trump and his family?
31:40Well, it could be the arms sales we are talking about today.
31:46It could be other policy priorities of these governments.
31:51For example, just 10 days after the UAE crypto deal with Trump,
31:58he lifted restrictions on the export of advanced AI microchips to the UAE
32:04which had previously been limited over security concerns.
32:09That delivered on a long-standing UAE priority
32:15worth billions of dollars to its leaders.
32:19But the deeper truth is we really don't know what these authoritarian
32:26foreign powers are getting for their bribes.
32:30But we shouldn't have to be asking these questions.
32:34This is precisely why the Constitution of the United States and U.S. law
32:39make it illegal for presidents to accept gifts from foreign powers.
32:45Mr. President, the truth is that the autocratic leaders of Saudi Arabia,
32:52the UAE and Qatar have perfected the art of channeling money
32:57to Trump and his family as a way to buy influence and get what they want.
33:03Our job is to say no.
33:07To say no to providing military aid to one country which is involved
33:13in horrific policies which are resulting in famine and starvation
33:22and another country which is making huge amounts of money from side deals
33:29with the president.
33:30Let us support these resolutions and I yield to them.