Democrats led by Congressman Ted Lieu launched a fierce attack on Donald Trump during an explosive press conference over allegations surrounding a massive $1.8 billion DOJ “slush fund.” Lawmakers accused Trump and his allies of misusing taxpayer money, demanding transparency and accountability from the Department of Justice. The heated confrontation has intensified political tensions in Washington as Democrats call the alleged funding scheme “totally ridiculous” and potentially corrupt. The controversy is rapidly becoming a major flashpoint ahead of the upcoming U.S. elections, with critics warning of abuse of power and political favoritism tied to federal funds and January 6 investigations.
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NewsTranscript
00:00I want to thank Vice Chair Ted Lieu for joining us and Ranking Member Brendan Boyle with the Budget Committee.
00:06Donald Trump and House Republicans this week are once again proving that this is the most corrupt administration in our
00:13nation's 250 years.
00:15Americans didn't vote for a slush fund to bail out January 6th insurrectionists with felony convictions or to build ballrooms
00:24with helipads or to help Trump and his billionaire donors get rich trading stocks.
00:29Yet that's exactly what this administration has been doing.
00:32And in Congress it's stopped much better.
00:35Last year Republicans passed the largest health care cut and food assistance cut in American history just to give billionaires
00:43and wealthy corporations record profits, continued tax cuts.
00:49Now this week they're doubling down on their disastrous misuse of taxpayer funds by giving an out-of-control ICE
00:55$70 billion with zero reforms while they continue to push a ballroom that costs a billion dollars.
01:03All of this comes at a time when hardworking Americans are already struggling within the weight of Trump's costly tariffs
01:11and skyrocketing food and gas prices thanks to his war of choice with Iran.
01:16Americans are smart, they know Trump's policies are directly impacting their wallets and they know that Republicans aren't concerned about
01:25improving their lives.
01:27It's no wonder his economic rating is hovering around 30%, a career low.
01:33Republicans know that they're hurting Americans and do you want to know what their response is?
01:38Jim Jordan says that's life.
01:40Mike Lawler said that the Iran war is absolutely worth it.
01:45And Trump even doubled down saying that his comment didn't, that his comment that he didn't think about Americans' financial
01:52situation he called a perfect statement.
01:56When a Democrat is in power, Republicans love to play the blame game.
02:01But when they're in power, Republicans tell Americans to be patient even as they face financial ruin.
02:07Remember, Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the presidency.
02:11They could work with Democrats at any time they want to lower the costs that Americans face.
02:17I hope they'll finally listen and work with us.
02:21Vice Chair Ted Lieu.
02:23Thank you, Chairman Aguilar.
02:25We have a cost of living emergency in America.
02:29Gas prices are skyrocketing.
02:31Grocery prices are surging.
02:33Mortgage rates are climbing.
02:34And what are Trump and Republicans focused on?
02:38A $1 billion taxpayer-funded ballroom.
02:41A giant arch in D.C. to honor Trump.
02:45And now we learn a nearly $1.8 billion slush fund to pay criminals who are friends of Donald Trump,
02:54including January 6 rioters.
02:57November is coming.
03:00Now, let me tell you a little bit about why this nearly $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund is
03:06completely unethical and totally ridiculous.
03:10First of all, it came as a result of a settlement between the IRS and the Department of Justice.
03:16Well, it turns out both those agencies are the same entity because they both report to Donald Trump.
03:21So it's like settling with yourself.
03:25And with these fake negotiations and this fake settlement magically appears nearly $1.8 billion to pay people who have
03:33been convicted of crimes.
03:35This is completely unethical.
03:38The people drafting this document know it's unethical.
03:41Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will lose his law license after his term is over because he's engaging in flatly
03:48unethical behavior.
03:49You can't have a fake settlement with fake negotiations with essentially one entity negotiating against itself and then just paying
03:57out taxpayer money that Congress never authorized to go to criminals.
04:03And now I'm honored to represent, I'm sorry, to present to you the amazing representative from Pennsylvania, Brendan Boyle, who's
04:12also the ranking member of the House Budget Committee.
04:16Thank you, and thank you to both the chair and vice chair.
04:20Well, here we are to debate and vote on the billion-dollar ballroom act.
04:27You know, if you take a step back, you recognize just how absurd this situation is.
04:33We have right now health care costs out of control thanks to the Republican cuts that were passed last summer
04:40and signed into law by the president.
04:43Let's not forget, that's even before the Medicaid cuts come into effect this December, when it is projected we will
04:51begin to see the 15 million Americans who are about to lose their health care because of the Republican bill
04:59passed last summer.
05:00But that's not all, not just health care.
05:03Food prices skyrocketing far higher today than they were a year and a half ago.
05:09And gas prices?
05:11Gas prices were actually a bit of a bright spot two and a half months ago.
05:16Gas in my area, like the national average, was just under $3 a gallon.
05:20Where is it today?
05:22Today, an average of $4.52 a gallon and climbing, a more than 50% increase in just two months.
05:30We haven't seen something like that in 60 years.
05:33So it's no wonder that we have consumer sentiment at a record low in the University of Michigan study, a
05:42study that goes back and has been asked every month since 1952.
05:45And the president's approval when it comes to the economy, the lowest recorded for any president since George W. Bush
05:54at the height of the Great Recession.
05:57What an unmitigated disaster this administration has been when it comes to the economy.
06:04The people are desperately in need of help.
06:07They are in desperate need to make their lives more affordable.
06:12And what do the Republicans offer them?
06:14The billion dollar ballroom.
06:17All to honor their dear leader.
06:20It's about time they start putting the people first and not their dear leader.
06:28Questions?
06:30Max.
06:32There was just a big bipartisan vote on the housing package.
06:35Can you comment on that and what that means going forward for bipartisanship in the House?
06:40Strong bipartisan bill.
06:41I want to give ranking member Maxine Waters and chairman French Hill a lot of credit.
06:47They put forward a product that a lot of us could stand behind, and I believe every Democrat present voted
06:54for it.
06:55Something that's long needed.
06:57We've talked all along, and I mentioned in my comments, there are a lot of problems with affordability.
07:04Housing, health care, utilities, gas, groceries.
07:08Housing is one that we can.
07:10We need to work with other levels of government, our state leaders, county and city leaders.
07:15But this is something that we can affect.
07:17And this was a strong bill, a collection of a lot of ideas.
07:22But it also is an opportunity for the House to assert itself.
07:26It wasn't long ago where the senators just said, you know, just hours ago, they said, just take this and
07:31eat it, right?
07:32And we appreciate our House colleagues stepping up and putting together a bipartisan product.
07:37That's what we can do when we work together.
07:40And if Republican leadership gives their members a little bit of space to do that, sometimes they can.
07:47And I wish that this place would do more of that.
07:50Michael.
07:51Thank you, Mr. Chair.
07:52I wanted to ask about accountability as you all also focus on cost of living and affordability issues.
07:58Obviously, there's opposition across the caucus to the ballroom, the anti-wipenization fund that Mr. Liu talked about.
08:07How do you all kind of direct this needle between talking about affordability and cost of living, bringing down gas
08:14prices, the housing bill you just spoke about, but also accountability?
08:18Because a lot of this accountability and oversight won't happen until you all get back the majority.
08:23So I guess the question I'm asking is if you're making all of these commitments on bringing down the cost
08:28of living,
08:28how are you going to also focus on holding this administration accountable for what you all say is corruption that
08:37has not happened in the country's history?
08:39As Leader Jeffries has said, when it comes to oversight, it's a target-rich environment down the block, down at
08:461,600 Pennsylvania.
08:47Just in the last couple days, Michael, you have the $1.8 billion that we're talking about.
08:53There's been discussion of helipads as part of a side agreement potentially included in this.
09:00The president, his family members, his entities can never be audited or second-guessed by the IRS.
09:06I mean, all of these things in a normal environment, each one of those would have been worthy of congressional
09:14oversight.
09:15That's what this president does.
09:16He throws everything at the wall and he wants to see what sticks.
09:21We don't have the luxury of doing just one thing.
09:24We don't have the luxury of just focusing on one thing.
09:26We have to do oversight and accountability when we take the gavels, but we also have to deliver for the
09:35American public.
09:35And we've talked about what that looks like, lowering the cost that people face.
09:39They're getting crushed with health care costs.
09:41They're getting crushed.
09:42Brendan mentioned gas prices, over $6 in Southern California for a gallon of gas.
09:49I mean, these are the real things that people are concerned about.
09:51And so we don't have the luxury of just focusing on one.
09:54We have to do it all.
09:56And we have to present over the next few months.
09:58We have to tell the American people exactly what we're going to do to make their lives better.
10:01And, yes, that does include asking tough questions to the White House and holding them accountable for the slush funds
10:10that they're creating and that they want to give potentially million-dollar settlements to violent criminals who broke into this
10:18building.
10:18But we will have time to ask a lot of those questions more focused on where we go for the
10:25next few months and how we drive down the costs that people face and how we win and how we
10:31win in November so we have an opportunity to do that.
10:34I'll ask Vice Chair Liu and then Ranking Member Boyle, too.
10:38Democrats are going to do what we're telling the American people we're going to do when we flip the House,
10:43which is lower costs.
10:45So we're going to pass off the floor legislation to reduce the largest Medicaid cut in U.S. history by
10:50Republicans.
10:51We're going to pass legislation to get rid of the Medicare cuts that happened because of the way the Republicans
10:57wrote the bill.
10:58We're also going to pass legislation to restore the ACA tax credits.
11:02At the same time, our committees are going to do the work of what committees have always done in the
11:07past, which is oversight.
11:09So today, Ranking Member Raskin on House Judiciary is making requests for subpoenas to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and
11:17the other people that worked on this slush fund document.
11:21This $1.8 billion slush fund is so unethical that the General Counsel of the IRS resigned because of it.
11:29So we want Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to come in right now and answer questions.
11:34If Republicans don't go along with that, we're going to get the gavels, as the chairman said, next term.
11:39And we will get Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in if he lasts that long.
11:47I don't have anything to add on this one.
11:49I want to ask for your reaction to the indictment of Raul Castro just now and whether we can see
11:54any kind of action from House Democrats in the event of military action against Cuba.
12:01I just saw the headline, so I'd need to read a little bit more.
12:06But obviously, this is an administration that believes that they can go into other countries and grab foreign leaders.
12:17We have pushed back strenuously.
12:19We have asked questions about not just Venezuela, but about Trump's reckless war in Iran.
12:25And this seems to be another area where the president is using every tool he can to deflect against a
12:34reckless war of choice and to distract from the American public that he's trying to enrich his family.
12:42Those are all the things that we know this president does, and this is one more example.
12:47I haven't read the details of the indictment.
12:50Obviously, this is the similar metric to what they've used in Venezuela seeking an indictment in U.S. court.
12:58So we'll see what the next steps are.
13:00I'm not prejudging those, but we'll continue to gather facts and work with the relevant committees, including Judiciary and others,
13:07to ask questions.
13:09Thank you, Chairman Aguilar.
13:10Eric Rosales with EWT and the Global Catholic Network.
13:14Yeah, I mean, with this Castro indictment, a lot of people are just, a lot of lawmakers are concerned that
13:19we're going to see the same pattern that happened with Iran and with Venezuela.
13:25And just, is there anything that Democrats can do, checks and balance, to prevent any sort of military action besides
13:35bringing possible impeachment charges?
13:38Well, look, every week we've been here, we've had an Iran war powers resolution.
13:42We have stood up time and time again to hold this administration accountable and to tell them to stop reckless
13:49wars.
13:50If there is another invasion, we will have, we will be guided by the Foreign Affairs Committee and potentially judiciary
13:59if this is a U.S. indictment.
14:02So those are the types of questions that we can ask about pushing this administration is something that we can
14:09do.
14:10Obviously, this is all breaking and this is news to us.
14:13It's not like they sent us a memo or anything when they did this.
14:17So we'll dig in and have more to say in the future.
14:20Chad.
14:21Yes, good afternoon.
14:23There have been a number of nominees or Democratic candidates who have expressed some remarkably anti-Semitic tropes, like the
14:30gentle lady in Texas, there's a gentleman in Pennsylvania, and I'd like you to weigh in on this as well.
14:35How is the Democratic Party going to grapple with that, especially in your caucus, when Republicans might try to turn
14:41that anti-Semitism against them and say, well, you know, Democrats might be that writ large?
14:44How do you deal with that in your caucus?
14:47Well, we need to speak out when we see it.
14:50We need to speak out against anti-Semitism.
14:52We need to speak out against Islamophobia when we see it.
14:56We need to hold folks accountable for their actions and their words.
15:00But what we also need to do is hold Republicans accountable because in that exact race that you're talking about,
15:06Chad, Texas 35,
15:07Republicans are propping up that person who in any other environment would be disqualifying and would never have the oxygen
15:16to be the Democratic nominee.
15:18It's only with potentially a million dollars that super PACs and Republican PACs could be behind this.
15:29They have not said that, but they need to be asked the question.
15:33And I don't know why anybody isn't asking them the question why they can't disavow this individual and why they
15:40can't ensure that no funds go to this individual.
15:44They are seeking to do this for one simple purpose, and it is because they have a damaged candidate in
15:50that race,
15:50and they are trying to prop up somebody with baggage who does not speak for House Democrats and does not
15:57speak for the Democratic Party.
15:59And so we will continue to say that as loud as we can because that's just the reality of the
16:05situation.
16:06But it's Republicans who are propping up this candidate and making this an issue for someone who otherwise would be
16:12disqualifying from even seeking office.
16:15In Pennsylvania, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has really stood behind this candidate.
16:20I just talked to Senator Peterman this morning.
16:22He said, well, I didn't get along too hot with this guy in Harrisburg.
16:25What's your response to somebody in suburban Philadelphia?
16:28Well, I'm in northeast Philadelphia, to be clear.
16:31But, Chad, I think we need to be intellectually honest on the topic of anti-Semitism.
16:37I have seen and observed certain comments and actions that I would characterize as originating on the fringes of either
16:46political spectrum,
16:47and we need to condemn it in all its shapes or forms.
16:51We also have to be careful not to conflate anti-Semitism with those who criticize certain actions of the Netanyahu
17:00government.
17:01We're standing here, three proud patriotic Americans, including one veteran who served our country honorably.
17:09We're standing here saying things that happen to be critical of the president of the United States.
17:14Well, that doesn't make us inherently anti-American.
17:17I would say quite the opposite.
17:18So let's make sure that in a unified voice, we call out anti-Semitism wherever it originates.
17:27And then specifically, we have to make sure our dollars aren't supporting it.
17:31We have right now a Republican super PAC, a dark money group that is pumping in a ton of money
17:39to prop up this woman who said some of the most vile things just yesterday,
17:46which I condemned on Twitter as soon as I saw them.
17:50So let's put our money where our mouths are.
17:52And I call on my Republican colleagues to repeat the same call that no one should be funding this individual,
17:59especially an outside dark money Republican group.
18:06On reconciliation, I know House Republicans are trying to get it done by depending on what Senate Britain gives them.
18:13But do you think it's possible that later in the summer, perhaps in the fall,
18:17there could be some negotiations on some of the reforms that us Democrats wanted for ICE
18:21and for integration enforcement, like masks and warrants, things like that?
18:26We've been very clear.
18:28Look, we will always be hopeful because we can legislate in this body.
18:33And when we work together on things like housing, sometimes we can find common ground.
18:38Our Republican colleagues have not wanted to meet us halfway on this at all.
18:44We have been very clear with what we want to see out of reforms to ICE and CBP.
18:49It starts and ends with them acting like a real law enforcement agency.
18:53And that means, just like our local law enforcement agencies, that they conduct themselves appropriately.
19:00Body cameras, use of warrants, no masks unless it's undercover operations.
19:08I mean, these are reasonable things that we have asked for.
19:12And time and time again, our Republican colleagues have said no.
19:16They've used ICE and CBP funding to brutalize communities.
19:21They've killed U.S. citizens.
19:23They've detained U.S. citizens.
19:25That's exactly what they're doing with tax dollars.
19:27And the Republicans' answer this week is bringing them $70 billion more.
19:31We've found that unacceptable.
19:33If they want to meet and talk, committees of jurisdiction can have discussions.
19:38Members can have discussions.
19:40But we do not believe that ICE and CBP are worthy of additional funds until they get reformed.
19:48That's been our position.
19:50Last one.
19:52Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick just said he's going to introduce a measure to get rid of this slush fund for $1
19:58.8 billion.
19:59Do you know anything about that?
20:00Have you spoken to him?
20:02This is going to be a tight vote.
20:03Do you have any updates on the absence of Representative Federico Wilson?
20:08I don't have any comment or anything new on absences on either side, whether it's Mr. Cain in New Jersey.
20:19I have not talked with Federico.
20:21I think the Whip's office handles our members and has been pushing our members.
20:27Our expectation, whether you're a ranking member of a committee or whether you're Democratic leadership,
20:32our position is that members show up and vote.
20:35That's our job.
20:36Our job is to be here and to vote.
20:38I haven't had a conversation with Mr. Fitzpatrick.
20:43I appreciate that members have comments about this and that they're speaking up about it.
20:48That's great.
20:48I know Leader Thune said the same thing.
20:50It doesn't matter unless they actually use their vote to get rid of it, to get it out of a
20:57package,
20:58if it's a ballroom, or to provide accountability and oversight,
21:02or to put actual language in these bills that prohibits the administration from doing this fund.
21:08It doesn't matter.
21:09Everything else is just happy talk and press releases.
21:12Unless he says, you cannot have my vote unless you fix this, it doesn't mean a damn thing.
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