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Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, well, first, on the announcement of an attempted appointment of Bill Pulte: Trump's appointment of Bill Pulte to serve as Acting Director of National Intelligence is another Trump low. A guy who can file such baseless, political, and outrageous charges against political officeholders he doesn't like can't be entrusted to protect our national security. Pulte has already proven himself willing to act as a Trump puppet, and now Donald Trump wants to put him in charge of the Nation's intelligence, a place where integrity is demanded? A man who doesn't have an ounce of integrity is being put in that position, which demands total integrity, by Donald Trump.
The Director of National Intelligence is supposed to speak truth to power, but Donald Trump appears to have chosen Pulte because he speaks power's truth instead. Americans need an intelligence chief loyal to the facts, the intelligence, the security of the Nation, not the political interests of one man.
At a time of growing threats around the world, this nomination raises a fundamental question: Is the President looking for independent intelligence or political validation? His fiascos in foreign policy, most recently in Iran, show he doesn't listen to facts or intelligence. He is going to get in even more trouble with Bill Pulte in this very sensitive job.
The intelligence community exists to protect the American people, not to serve as another instrument of Presidential retribution. Anti-Weaponization Fund
Mr. President, now, on the slush fund, the only way to ensure Trump's $2 billion, taxpayer-funded giveaway to Trump's MAGA allies never sees the light of day is to abolish it by law. The only way to make sure that Trump's slush fund never sees the light of day is to abolish it by law, not to trust the word of a corrupt President who stands to benefit the most from it.
The same goes for the license Trump gave himself and his family to commit tax fraud with impunity. Any promise from Trump is worthless, and when it comes to ending his blatantly corrupt slush fund or his blank check to commit tax fraud, Trump barely promised anything in the first place. That is why the first amendment I will offer on the Republican reconciliation bill will be to ban Trump's slush fund permanently and to revoke his family's free rein to commit tax fraud forever. Trump doesn't get to make off with at least $100 billion his family owes on taxes, and he doesn't get to use your tax dollars to pay off the MAGA right--not on our watch.
Again, the only way to ensure his $2 billion, taxpayer-funded giveaway never sees the light of day is to abolish it by law, not to trust the word of the corrupt President who stands to benefit the most from it.
We need to set the record straight about what exactly the Trump administration did and did not commit to yesterday. Trump's Department of Justice put out a statement saying that it would abide by the recent court order that temporarily blocked Trump from using Americans' tax dollars to pay off his MAGA loyalists and billionaire friends and violent insurrectionists who maimed our Capitol Police on January 6.
Let's be clear. The Trump administration hasn't made any commitment to kill the slush fund permanently, nor has it pledged to revoke the broad immunity from tax audits that Trump granted himself and his family.
Can you believe it, America? Trump and his family still get to cheat their way out of paying their taxes and then use your tax dollars to line their pockets and give handouts to his billionaire cronies, criminals, and cop-killing insurrectionists?
Trump's slush fund is corruption at its absolute worst. America has seen a lot of corruption from this administration, but this corruption--I don't think we have seen anything like it in our entire history. Trump shook hands with himself, suing his own government, and then settling the case so he could steal your tax dollars, America--all at a time when families are struggling to make ends meet amid skyrocketing costs.
What do Republicans have to say? What do they have to say about this? What are our Republican colleagues saying about this god-awful slush fund? Well, after the DOJ's meek statement yesterday, one of my colleagues across the aisle said Trump's slush fund is ``a moot point.'' A moot point? Trump's far-right radical rewards program is anything but moot. Trump and the GOP didn't suddenly find their conscience. They simply hit a temporary roadblock. If Senate Republicans are truly concerned about Trump's corruption, then prove it. Ban the slush fund by law permanently.
If Republicans revisit their reconciliation bill this week, as I said, the very first amendment I will offer will be to ban Trump's slush fund permanently and revoke his family's free rein to commit tax fraud.
The corruption is so grievous that toothless Republican guardrails won't cut it. Democrats won't settle for half measures. We are going to kill this slush fund permanently, and we are going to bury it and bury it deep. Senate Testimony
Mr. President, on Rubio coming to the Hill, Secretary Rubio has a lot to answer for when he testifies before the Senate today--on China, on giving kickbacks to Russia, on Ukraine, on withholding arms to Taiwan, on this administration's ridiculous rhetoric on NATO, on the disastrous gutting of foreign aid that is leaving Americans vulnerable to one infectious disease after another, on Iran, on foreign corruption. The list goes on and on and on.
And today, with all these questions, all these bungles, all these terrible--terrible--missteps that hurt America--today will be the first time Marco Rubio, the National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, testifies before the American people since the start of Trump's disastrous war with Iran--first time. The war has been going on over 60 days. He is finally coming to the Hill to talk about it.
Yesterday, Trump said he finds the peace negotiations with Iran ``very boring.'' And that he ``couldn't care less'' if they are over.
I want to tell you, Donald Trump, who cares: our troops who are in harm's way; their families; Americans across the country who are sick of paying the immense costs of this disastrous war, including paying $4.50 a gallon at the pump. Secretary Rubio needs to answer whether he cares about ending this war.
I urge my colleagues as well to ask Rubio to address recent reports that the Trump administration left a loophole open for the past year and a half that allowed China to acquire, potentially, hundreds of thousands of cutting-edge American AI chips. These chips are essential to America's national security and to our economic competitiveness, but Chinese companies linked to the Chinese military have funneled them through foreign firms with seeming impunity.
By failing to protect this vital technology, the Trump administration has threatened our lead in the AI race and weakened our national security. Either the Trump administration failed to identify the loophole, suggesting gross incompetence, or kept it open willfully, which is very, very dangerous.
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