Senator Murphy (00:00):
… five minutes. Five minutes late. Five minutes late. Well, good afternoon everybody. We'll start quickly. I apologize for being late. I know we have votes pending in the United States Senate right now. Thanks to our House colleague, Representative Liccardo for joining us here today.
(00:17)
This is the most corrupt White House in the history of the country. Just because the corruption is playing out in public where everybody can see, it doesn't mean that it isn't rampant, rapacious corruption. And what is happening tonight, this private secret dinner, in which individuals who have put money in Donald Trump's pocket get access to him, is maybe the most corrupt of all of the corruption.
(00:46)
Tonight, Donald Trump will have a secret dinner and meeting with the 200 individuals who have spent the most money buying up his meme coin. Donald Trump's meme coin has no value in and of itself. Its only value is based upon how much demand exists for the meme coin. And it's not hard to inflate demand for a product that doesn't have any value when you're President of the United States and you have command of nearly infinite resources given to you by the taxpayers. He creates demand by essentially opening a channel for bribery.
(01:28)
If you buy his coin, the price goes up and he makes more money. If you buy his coin, you get secret access to the president to be able to plead your case, to be able to ask for preferential treatment. And the extra benefit is no one will ever know that you bought the coin or that you got the private access. And so it provides cover for the most corrupt, for the most compromised, for the worst of the worst to channel money to Donald Trump in order to get their private audience with him in order to plead their case for favorable treatment from the federal government or for investment from the US taxpayer.
(02:16)
Reportedly, there's going to be a guy there tonight called Ogle. That's it. That's all we know about this guy. He wears a mask all the time. He says he'll take the mask off when he meets with Donald Trump, but he has supposedly spent millions of dollars getting access to the president today. An anonymous individual who is going to make an ask of the President tonight that we don't know about.
(02:46)
The most worrisome aspect of this dinner tonight, and then I'll turn it over to my colleagues, is the fact that it is likely to be loaded with non-American citizens. It would be bad enough if you could pay as an American citizen to get secret access to the president, but from what we understand, most of the attendees tonight will be foreigners. These could be individuals with ties to terrorist groups, these could be representatives of Vladimir Putin, these could be sanctioned individuals. They could be Gulf princes, they could be oligarchs. They were able to pay their way in to get an audience with the President of the United States to ask for favorable national security concessions. The Secretary of State won't be there. He claimed he didn't even know about this meeting the other day. And it's an opportunity not just for domestic corruption, but for foreign policy corruption as well.
(03:46)
And so we're here today, first to just make sure that people know this is happening. Amidst all the dizzying news in the world. A lot of people may have missed this celebration of corruption that's happening today at one of Trump's properties. But to call on the president and the people who serve him to do something really simple, release the names of the people who are going to be there. Even if you release the names, it's still corrupt, but at least let us see who's going to be there. At least let the American people know who has bought access to the president. Release the names. If there's nothing wrong. If you think that this is all above board, then what are you hiding?
(04:28)
This shouldn't be happening. The president should be held accountable for this kind of corruption. Our Republican colleagues should join with us to end it, but at the very least, between now and when that dinner happens, the president could decide to show us who has bought access to him, who is trying to convince him through donations to his business to try to get favorable treatment from the government that is not his, that is ours. With that, let me turn it over to a crusader against corruption every single day, Elizabeth Warren.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (05:02):
Thank you. Thank you, thank you. So thank you all. It's good to be here. Donald Trump's dinner is an orgy of corruption. That's what this is all about. We are here today to talk about exactly one topic, corruption. Corruption in its ugliest form. Donald Trump is using the presidency of the United States to make himself richer through crypto, and he's doing it right out there in plain sight. He is signaling to anyone who wants to ask for a special favor and is willing to pay for it exactly how to do that.
(05:47)
So let us count the ways. Just before his inauguration, Donald Trump launched a crypto meme coin and he has since signed executive orders to boost the value of that coin. In just three months, he has already made hundreds of millions of dollars off that launch. Then Trump appointed a cast of industry insiders to run crypto policy. Howard Lutnick, Paul Atkins and David Sacks, each of whom has extensive personal and financial ties to the industry, and each of whom is in a position, in a government position, to boost crypto fortunes and Donald Trump's personal fortunes even more.
(06:38)
Trump, number three, disbanded the DOJ's crypto enforcement effectively crippling enforcement of the current laws. The timing on this was particularly juicy. The unit was shut down just as Binance, a giant foreign crypto exchange that had pleaded guilty to criminal violations related to money laundering, was exploring a deal with the Trump family crypto venture. And one more. Trump's SEC quietly backed off enforcement actions and investigations against the crypto firms that poured millions into Donald Trump's inauguration.
(07:28)
Tonight though is the topper. Tonight is the orgy of corruption. Tonight, Donald Trump will host a private intimate dinner and a White House tour for the top buyers of his meme coin, many of whom remain anonymous. The American people have no idea who is buying access to the president and no idea what they are getting in return. Last month, Donald Trump and his family launched yet another crypto venture. This time he issued a stablecoin he calls USD1, and already that venture is awash in corruption as well. An Abu Dhabi investment firm with ties to the United Arab Emirates and to China has already invested $2 billion in Trump's stablecoin, making millions and millions more for Trump and the Trump family.
(08:32)
And the corruption is already paying off handsomely for the criminals. Justin Sun, the top buyer of Trump's meme coin and a major investor in his family's crypto venture, will be having an especially good time at tonight's dinner. He just received word that the SEC has paused its fraud enforcement actions against Sun and his company.
(09:01)
Americans sent us to Congress to unrig the economy for them, not to help the President turn the White House into a crypto cash machine. The Genius Act should be written to prohibit the president and his family from directly or indirectly profiting from any stablecoin venture period. Without this fix, we're not regulating stablecoins, we are turbocharging the same corruption that we are witnessing tonight as Donald Trump opens the White House doors and sells favors to his wealthy crypto allies. We need to put a stop to this. And with that, I turn it over to Jeff Merkley, Senator Merkley.
Senator Jeff Merkley (09:54):
Thank you. Thank you.
(09:57)
There is a big for sale sign on the White House lawn, US policy for sale. Anyone who thinks those 220 people who are attending the dinner tonight who paid about $150 million for those seats just really crave to have a digital equivalent of a baseball trading card, well, you're a little off the mark. They absolutely want to buy influence over US policy. The head of the freight technology company said they wanted to buy $20 million. Not sure if they actually purchased all 20 million or not, but he said, because we want to influence the freight trade policy between Mexico and the United States of America.
(10:41)
Everybody knows what this is about. President Trump is saying, open your wallet, hand me your money and we'll consider the request that you have. That is astounding. It's a type of corruption, a magnitude of corruption, it is the Mount Everest of corruption. And here we are, business as usual. A bill coming to the floor that we will be coming to when we come back from recess to so-called regulate cryptocurrency. That bill, as Senator Warren has pointed out, has a series of holes in it that actually means it doesn't really regulate cryptocurrency. But what it does do is give legitimacy to that cryptocurrency world, the stablecoin side of that world in which it will really put a powerful impulse behind international companies saying if we're going to do a transaction in digital coins, we might as well use USD1, the Trump coin, because that will take and put millions of dollars in President Trump's pocket and the pocket of his family company, digital company. And so
Senator Jeff Merkley (12:00):
… will not only have the digital coins, we'll also buy influence with the United States of America. Our founders were profoundly worried about foreign players buying influence in the United States of America. There had been a whole series of incidents with different governments trying to bribe other governments in the years before our country was founded. This led to Hamilton describing in the Federalist Papers, Federalist 22, he was explaining why we have this clause in our constitution that forbids members who are elected, and that includes Congress and it includes the president, the vice president, from taking any form of gift or money from a foreign power, a foreign government. He said, and I quote, "Many mortifying examples of the prevalence of foreign corruption in Republican governments." That's why. And you might recall that just 10 years after we were founded, we had the X, Y, Z affair where the French tried to extract bribes from the United States of America in order to start negotiations. This was a real threat.
(13:06)
Today, it isn't just a threat from foreign governments, it's a threat from foreign corporations, it is a threat from foreign individuals. One of those individuals who is going to be present tonight is an individual named Jason Sun, a crypto billionaire. What could he possibly want when we're in the moment of deciding what are the sideboards for crypto trading? We have to put an end to this. And we have a crypto bill on the floor, and we will be coming back to it. And it's why we are absolutely going to insist on voting on an amendment that will put an end to all electeds, Congressional, vice president, president, members of the cabinet from having a financial stake in this business. So it's a moment where the vision of government for the people is being corroded massively.
(14:09)
It's like a car on the East Coast after salt's been put on the winter road and the whole underbelly is being corroded out. This [inaudible 00:14:17] government buy-in for people overseas buying the policies they want. We took an oath to defend the constitution, and that's what we're going to strive to do, and that's why we're going to strive to do everything we can to stop this corrupt practice. And now it's my pleasure to turn this over to Representative Sam Liccardo from California.
Representative Sam Liccardo (14:42):
Senator, thank you. Senator, thank you for your work. Thank you to all my colleagues in the Senate for their very important work on this. And thank you in particular to Senator Chris Murphy for his leadership and partnership on the MEME Act here on the Senate side. And I appreciate that they let me over here to the Senate side without a visa. We are all here today because it is time to make corruption criminal again. We have endured 120 days or so, or what seems like 120 years, of chaos, cruelty, and corruption under the reign of Donald Trump. We've seen plenty of evidence of the cruelty just last night as we, myself and my House Democratic colleagues voted against, perhaps, the cruelest budget in the history of this country. We've seen ample evidence of the chaos, whether it's around forced deportations in violation of the due process or whatever may come of these horrible tariffs.
(15:42)
Now of course, we've got to focus today on corruption. Today at the Trump National Golf Club, we have the opportunity to see corruption at its finest. We have all along suspected, but now we know for certain, that this president is coin-operated, both literally and figuratively. I was not invited to dine with Donald Trump today. I'm not disappointed. I suspect my Senate colleagues were also not invited. They're not disappointed. But you know who should be disappointed? 746,000 people, probably many of them Americans, who bought small amounts of that Trump coin, maybe some of them bought a little bit more, who didn't get invited. Because at the time that we introduced our bill in the house in late February, those 746,000 folks had lost collectively $2 billion on a pump-and-dump scheme that benefited Donald Trump to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, along with his family members, while they lost big.
(16:45)
It was then that I introduced the MEME Act in the house because, to borrow from Richard Nixon, those 764,000 Americans needed to know that their president was a crook… excuse me… that their president was a crook. Now, a criminally-indicted… excuse me… a charged, I should say, by the SEC, Justin Sun paid $75 million, you heard Senator Warren discuss this, to World Liberty Financial. We know 56 million of that went directly to Donald Trump, into his pocket. Weeks later, the investigation of SEC and their action halts. Weeks later, Justin Sun purchased millions more of the Trump meme coin. Subsequently, he gets invited to the White House. This is all very predictable. Donald Trump has created a grift machine, and every American is the victim, where every American can reasonably hope or expect the honest services of their public officials.
(17:53)
Now, earlier today, Karoline Leavitt over at the White House characterized this activity as not something she was aware of or kept track of because she said that Donald Trump is doing it on his personal time. Now, I'm a recovering federal prosecutor and what that tells me for somebody who might otherwise seek immunity of offices, his personal time, well, congratulations, we just made him indictable. So let's indict him. I want to thank all of my colleagues here in the Senate and the House who are pushing together, and hopefully we're going to find some Republicans who have the courage and the spine to say, " This is corruption, regardless of which party is committing it." And on that day, perhaps we'll finally restore some faith in the White House and the American public. Thank you. It's my great honor to introduce Senator Richard Blumenthal from great state of Connecticut.
Senator Richard Blumenthal (18:47):
Thank you. Let me begin where the Congressman ended. This story is about Donald Trump, but it's also about Republicans. It's about Republicans having no backbone or spine. It's about Republicans complicit in Donald Trump's corruption. They are aiding and abetting corruption by their silence, by their complicity. And they're doing it, for example, just yesterday when I went to the floor of the United States Senate and I asked for votes on these payments and benefits that Donald Trump is receiving. I submitted four resolutions, every one of them was blocked from unanimous consent. Republicans are aiding and abetting this unprecedented and unimaginable corruption by Donald Trump. And what I asked the United States Senate to do was simply have a vote to permit him, as the emoluments clause says he can do if he receives payments or benefits, all he has to do is come to the Senate and say, "Here it is. Will you approve it?"
(20:11)
The plane, that is a gift of $400 million in effect. The FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT meme transactions that put already 300 million bucks in his pocket. The World Liberty Financial, which is also a corporation that benefits him and his family, the private real estate investments all around the world, including the Middle East, which he just visited. And of course, LIV Golf, the Saudi-owned network or tour, which has tournaments at his golf courses and produces revenue for him. They are just the beginning of a list of corrupt enterprises that provide him payments or benefits in violation of a specific provision of the constitution that says he has to come to Congress if he takes these payments or benefits. Republicans are blocking at every turn efforts to uncover the truth. Not to mention stop him from doing it. The permanent subcommittee on investigation, which I was chairman of and now a ranking member of has written the minority staff.
(21:36)
I have written to both the MEME Coin Operation, FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT and World Liberty Financial, asking for precisely what we are demanding today. We've written to them saying, "Give us lists. Who's attending?" When a visiting head of state or a representative of a foreign government comes to the United States and there is a state dinner, the list is made public. When they visit the Oval Office, it is completely disclosed. Donald Trump is having 220 of the biggest investors, some more than a hundred million dollars in his meme coin, come to his private golf club without any disclosure and apparently hiding, purposefully concealing who they are and some are from foreign powers and governments potentially disguised or anonymously here.
(22:50)
So we've asked for this information, the list not only of the attendees of investors, but also representatives or anyone from the administration who is attending, both lists. Who are the investors, who from the administration is going to be there, mixing it up with these individuals who want access. Donald Trump is selling access. He is selling out America. He is selling it to foreign powers. He is putting our national security at risk. He is becoming beholden to foreign powers that provide $ 2 billion to World Liberty Financial as the Emiratis have done, who provide him with a plane, as the Qataris have done, who invest in his meme coin operation. As we don't know who it is have done. This is a threat to our national security. It's not just about corruption. It is about corruption that endangers our national security
Senator Richard Blumenthal (24:00):
… by putting the president in a compromised position in relation to foreign powers. So my hope is that they'll give us the list that the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation has asked them to provide, and that we will move forward on a conflict of interest addition to the STABLE Act that will prohibit the president from engaging in exactly these kinds of transactions.
(24:29)
Right now it has no such prohibition. It must. One of the reasons I have opposed it is that it has a gaping exception that threatens to swallow the rule. I think we need to reassure the American people that we, Republicans as well as Democrats, will stop this kind of corruption. But it is on Republicans, it is on Republicans to step forward, to grow a spine, to say that they will protect our national security, join us in stopping Donald Trump from putting a for sale sign on the White House.
(25:16)
With that, let me introduce Lisa Gilbert of Public Citizen. I want to thank all of the groups that are here today, Public Citizens, CREW, End Citizens United. These advocates have really been so important and courageous in carrying this fight and disclosing information that is so important. Lisa?
Lisa Gilbert (25:42):
Thanks so much for that, senator. I'm Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen. At Public Citizen, our mission is to take on corporate power to fight corruption, and it is way past time to end Trump's crypto corruption.
(25:56)
The President of the United States simply should not have the ability to make money off purchases of his cryptocurrency, so-called cryptocurrency, while sitting in the Oval Office. His crypto corruption has been brazen. Since returning to office, President Trump has used the power of the presidency to shamelessly promote and profit from a series of crypto ventures tied to both himself and his family. This, of course, includes his personal meme coin, but also Melania's meme coin and, as Senator Warren mentioned, the launch of his new backed stablecoin.
(26:29)
Crypto holdings now account for nearly 40% of Trump's overall net worth, $2.9 billion. Back in February, Public Citizen filed a complaint with the Department of Justice and the Office of Government Ethics to investigate whether Trump is violating the law which bars the president from soliciting gifts by advertising his meme coin absent, predictably, any action from these agencies.
(26:54)
As we know, Trump has escalated his advertisements, soliciting for personal gifts through full-color advertisements on his website and of course culminating with tonight's offer of special access to the president's dinner that he has called the most exclusive invitation in the world.
(27:11)
The consequences of the president profiting off his office in this manner is a White House that is clearly and publicly for sale to the highest bidder, and that includes, as has been mentioned, foreign nations. We know that 19 of the 25 top purchasers of the coin bought them on international exchanges, which exclude US customers. That means they're likely foreign. The Constitution explicitly prohibits this kind of behavior because American foreign policy simply should not be for sale.
(27:42)
This week, as others have mentioned, the Senate has been debating the GENIUS Act to regulate stablecoins. We have lots of issues with this bill, but one of them is that it doesn't include real provisions to prohibit President Trump and his family from lining their pockets through corrupt crypto schemes and accepting these payouts from governments. In fact, the bill turbocharges that type of corruption.
(28:04)
So we want Congress to pass different legislation from champions like those standing behind me, who will first, hopefully, effectively regulate crypto to actually protect consumers, but, second, banning elected officials, including our corrupt president, from profiting from the crypto industry.
(28:22)
At the end of the day, what we deserve is a president who is responsive to the needs of the American people, not his own greed, not the greed of his tech bro friends, or billionaires. Beyond this outrageous crypto grift that we've been seeing, we can't forget that this is part of a huge pattern. He's done plenty of other regular order corruption as well. His Tesla car show on the White House lawn to benefit his buddy Elon. His recently accepted jumbo jet gift from Qatar. The fact that he never issued an executive order on ethics, breaking a precedent of the last 30 years. The firing of the head of the Office of Government Ethics, numerous inspectors general. Unfortunately, the list just goes on and on and on.
(29:06)
While Trump is truly pocketing the money for his meme coin and schmoozing with crypto crooks, he is neglecting millions of Americans who are just struggling to meet their basic needs, to get by. We can't accept this from our president. America is not and should not be for sale. So with that, I'll hand it over to Noah Bookbinder, my great colleague from CREW.
Noah Bookbinder (29:28):
Thanks, Lisa.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Well done, Lisa.
Noah Bookbinder (29:31):
Thanks so much, Lisa, and thanks to Senator Murphy and to this really terrific all-star team of leaders in Congress and in civil society on the fight to limit, hopefully end, corruption in Washington and beyond.
(29:46)
I'm Noah Bookbinder. I'm the president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington or CREW. CREW's a nonpartisan watchdog that works to promote democracy, hold government accountable, and ensure that it's working on behalf of the people, not special interests.
(30:03)
Earlier in my career, I served as a federal corruption prosecutor. Then in my years at CREW, over the course of Donald Trump's first term, CREW tracked more than 3700 conflicts of interest, all of which stemmed from Donald Trump's failure to meaningfully divest from his business holding.
(30:23)
So I've seen a lot of corruption throughout my career, and even having seen all that, this meme coin dinner happening tonight is unbelievable. This is as blatant an example of selling access to the presidency as I have ever seen and I think maybe as the country has ever seen. It's over the top even for Trump.
(30:46)
The practice of wealthy individuals putting money in this president's pocket and subsequently gaining access to him is far from new. We've seen a lot of that over the past nine years. But, in this instance, it is more shameless than it has ever been, and it's on a much, much larger scale.
(31:05)
During Donald Trump's first term, we didn't know everyone who was spending money at his properties, but you generally had to go in-person to the hotel in D.C. or to Mar-a-Lago in Florida. That limited how many people could do it. It limited how much money they could spend.
(31:22)
This time, through Trump Media, which is the parent company for Truth Social, in which Donald Trump holds the majority of the stock, and through Donald Trump's cryptocurrency assets, there's an opportunity for putting massively more money, millions and millions of dollars, in his pocket very easily without the public finding out who's paying.
(31:46)
Because the buyers behind cryptocurrency transactions are generally not disclosed, anyone could be buying these coins and trying to influence the president with any kind of motivations. That could include foreign, state, or federal government officials who could be buying these coins, meaning that Donald Trump would be violating the emoluments clauses of the Constitution without any of us, without the public ever finding out.
(32:14)
Now there are a lot of ethics laws that don't apply to the president, and even those like the emoluments clauses that do are hard to enforce. We at CREW spent four years bringing litigation against the president for violations of the emoluments clauses, and he ran out the clock on that then.
(32:32)
The reason why this is a problem is that a president is supposed to be serving the public, not his own interests or the interests of a wealthy few. But with this meme coin dinner, Donald Trump is giving the highest bidders access to the president, possibly to influence decisions that affect all of us and all Americans while lining his own pockets.
(32:52)
It's past time for Congress to step up and pass legislation to make it simpler to enforce the emoluments clause, to prevent officials from holding interests in cryptocurrency and in industries that they're regulating. As the terrific members here today are trying to do, it's time for Congress to do real oversight, demand a list of who's there tonight, again as these members are trying to do, and it's time for Americans to make clear that this corruption is not okay.
(33:23)
We appreciate all of the members of Congress who have called out this historically corrupt situation at today's press conference and beyond, and the public needs to do the same. We cannot allow this to become the new normal. With that, I will pass it on to my great colleague Justin Unga at End Citizens United.
Justin Unga (33:45):
Thank you, Noah. Good afternoon, everybody. My name's Justin Unga. I'm a vice president at End Citizens United. We are an organization that fights for transparency around big money in politics and fights the corrosive impact of unlimited and undisclosed money. We are four million members strong in every part of the country and growing every day.
(34:07)
Thank you to the senators and representatives who are here today leading this fight for transparency. Thank you to Senator Murphy and Representative Liccardo for introducing recent legislation to fight corruption and for ensuring Americans are clear-eyed about the escalating danger that's right in front of us.
(34:25)
To be very clear, that danger is Mr. Trump's disgraceful actions to monetize the American presidency, to enrich himself and his rich friends. At the same time this is the president who lectures hardworking Americans that they should prepare to do more with less, that they should tighten their belts and they should restrict themselves to $2.
(34:48)
To be more clear, this is a president who is using the most powerful seat in the world to get richer by the minute. That is exactly what is happening tonight at Trump National Golf Club, where the president will sit down with a group of anonymous foreign actors who are shelling out to the tune of $150 million for seats at the table. We don't know who most of these people are, as we've heard. Many paid through foreign-linked crypto wallets. The transactions are untraceable, and the press and the public are shut out.
(35:26)
Unknown foreign actors are opening their wallets for President Trump. Some say this is a back door to corruption. I would argue it's the front door. It's the front door with valet parking and it's got a red carpet for any anonymous force who wants to participate in the president's auction for access. It's a slap in the face for hardworking Americans who have been forced to strap in and ride the roller coaster of
Justin Unga (36:00):
… chaos that Mr. Trump has brought to this economy. It is not without irony that at the same time that Mr. Trump and his rich friends are getting richer by the minute raking in millions, that the president is working with the Republican Congress to pass a cruel budget that forces hard-working families to choose between the medicine they need or putting food on the table.
(36:26)
This corruption of the Trump era isn't some distant notion. It's billionaires borrowing influence to line their pockets while everyday Americans struggle to afford groceries and pay rent. It's the commander-in-chief who spends more time soliciting for a multimillion dollar luxury jet from a foreign government than fighting to protect the healthcare for veterans, seniors and children.
(36:48)
It's shameful, it urgently deserves the scrutiny and attention of the American people, and I am grateful to be standing next to strong leaders who are holding the president to account. Thank you.
Senator Murphy (37:02):
Thank you, Justin. Justin, Noah, Lisa, thank you for the work that you do every single day to protect the taxpayers.
(37:09)
I just wanna underscore one last point that you made, Justin. This is particularly offensive what the president is doing tonight in light of what happened in the House of Representatives last night. In a 24-hour period of time, the president is stealing healthcare from 15 million Americans, making the poorest 10% of Americans even poorer, while he dines lavishly with foreign oligarchs who are padding his pockets corruptly. One set of rules for Donald Trump and his billionaire friends, another set of rules for ordinary Americans. That's the story of the first 100 days. And it'll be, unfortunately, unless we get some cooperation from our Republicans, the story of the rest of this term.
(37:56)
Sam, thanks for sticking around. If there's any questions, I would be happy to take them.
REPORTERS (38:02):
Hi. You've had a lot of colleagues who are supportive of the GENIUS Act be asked about Trump White House related protections, right? And, and the response from senators like Ruben Gallego and Kirsten Gillibrand has been what the President is doing is already illegal under the law. So why do we need to force this issue?
Senator Murphy (38:23):
Well, it's certainly illegal under the Emoluments Clause, but as Noah pointed out it is often difficult to enforce the Emoluments Clause. The way to end Trump's crypto-corruption would be to build it into the piece of legislation that is pending right now before the United States Senate, because that's black and white, right?
(38:43)
The ethics prohibitions in the pending stablecoin bill are really simple. It says members of congress or senior executive officials cannot issue a stablecoin. All you have to do is add the president to that list and it is an open-and-shut case that could be enforced in the courts very quickly as to whether the president can issue a stablecoin. Now, we're going to offer an amendment that would fix the problem for stablecoin. You could obviously also add memecoin and other types of cryptocurrencies into the mix.
(39:15)
But yes, obviously what he's doing is illegal and unconstitutional, but we wanna be able to unwind that corruption as easily and as quickly as possible. And the addition of the president to the list of prohibited individuals to issue the coin would be the fastest and most expedient way to do that. Great.
(39:36)
Yeah, go ahead.
REPORTERS (39:37):
Jesse Hamilton. To [inaudible 00:39:38] point a little bit. Is that revealing, so those who believe that this issue shouldn't be allowed to get in the way of GENIUS Acts prior arrest and those who think it's too important to not deal with, is that revealing a divide among Democrats?
Senator Murphy (40:03):
Well I can only speak for myself. I think we are at risk of losing our democracy very soon if we don't put an end to this corruption. And so I think fighting the corruption and putting an end to the corruption has to be the priority. I want to regulate stablecoin. It's a good thing to regulate stablecoin. But if you do that in a way that supersizes the presidential corruption we may not have a democracy a year or two years from now that can implement the provisions of this bill. So to me, fighting and shutting down the corruption needs to be the priority. And we still have an opportunity to get that done.
(40:48)
I know there are a number of Democrats who voted to proceed on this bill who are contemplating voting against final cloture, unless at the very least we have an opportunity to offer an amendment that would hold the president accountable for his corruption. So we're gonna continue discussions all next week with our Democratic and Republican colleagues to see if we can come to a consensus and decide that we are not going to proceed with this bill unless we have made it clear that the president cannot be regulating a business in which he is the primary player.
REPORTERS (41:30):
I'm also [inaudible 00:41:33], but I wonder how does these conversations with your Republican colleagues go? Are you actively talking and having meetings about this? Or is there any receptiveness to please follow issue? Because I've been talking to some of the lawmakers and that there's a unwillingness to accept that you even accept that Trump is having this dinner. They're like, "Oh, I don't know anything about that.", "That's not my problem.", "Reach out to the president's office." So I wonder if it's different on your side.
Congressman Ricardo (42:12):
Well, I can tell you all the conversations I have are usually in the elevator or at the gym or in some quiet place. And quietly, several of my Republican colleagues are quite willing to acknowledge that this is horrific. Whether they're willing to do so publicly is entirely a different question. And I see it's my job to do all I can to encourage them to step up. I feel a little bit like I'm back in the criminal prosecutor days and you're trying to get the victim to actually identify a culprit they're afraid to identify. It's a similar process.
Senator Murphy (42:44):
There are several Senate Republicans on record expressing real reservations and outright opposition to what the President is doing with the memecoin. That's why it's important for us to force a vote. The only power you have in the minority on many days is to demand amendment votes in order to move to a final vote on legislation. So I think it'll be interesting to see what some of these Senate Republicans do if presented with a really simple amendment. Should the ethics provisions in this bill that already apply to members of Congress and to everybody that works for Donald Trump also apply to Donald Trump? All right, we can do one more. Go ahead. Yep.
REPORTERS (43:25):
A question actually for Congressman Ricardo. What do you think about this issue of withholding support for crypto legislation without it directly addressing the issue that you're here talking about? You voted for the [inaudible 00:43:40] in-house Financial Services. It does not have a provision like that. Would you and other house Democrats consider withholding your support on the floor for crypto legislation without this, or are you in a different place?
Congressman Ricardo (43:55):
Well, I think reasonable minds can disagree about this. I strongly support bill that Senator Murphy's introduced and that I've introduced on the House side, obviously. I would strongly support its inclusion in stablecoin legislation. I'm not eager to hold up regulation of an industry that desperately needs regulation if we can't get that over the goal line. So I happen to believe whatever we can do we need to do. Because we have both a problem within industry, and I think Senator Murphy put it very well. We have a very serious challenge with our democracy.
Senator Murphy (44:31):
Great. Thanks for everybody. Appreciate it.
Congressman Ricardo (44:32):
Thank you.
Senator Murphy (44:33):
Thank you man.
Congressman Ricardo (44:33):
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Senator Murphy (44:34):
Sure. Great job. Absolutely. Thanks, Stephen. Thank you.
Justin Unga (44:39):
Thanks, Senator.
Senator Murphy (44:42):
Thank you guys. Appreciate it. Thanks for the long nights. We got another week on the sheets on this bill to try to make some sense here.
