Senator Blumenthal Week in Review: 5/9/2025-5/16/2025
Combatting Trump’s Corruption Chaos
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) announced a resolution to stop President Donald Trump from accepting payments and gifts from foreign governments, including a $400 million luxury jet from the royal family of Qatar and potentially millions funneled by foreign agents directly to the Trump family through a cryptocurrency scheme. The resolution is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
“To stop Donald Trump’s self-enriching lawless thuggery, and protect its own lawful powers, the Senate must invoke the Constitution through legal action in federal court. Having just defeated exploitive colonial despots, and fearing foreign influence on home-grown tyrants, the Framers explicitly prohibited the corruption that is becoming Trump’s trademark – accepting luxury jets and potentially millions in crooked crypto payments,” Blumenthal said.
“What the Framers never anticipated was the pathetic submission of Congress to the whims of a tyrant. I am introducing this resolution to demand that the Senate assert its authority and require Donald Trump’s compliance with the Constitution, and I’ll be calling for its passage on the Senate Floor. I challenge Senate Republicans to prove that they are more than mere lackeys to President Trump’s self-enrichment schemes and show that the Senate still has a spine by joining this effort.”
Blumenthal spoke on the Senate Floor requesting unanimous consent to pass this resolution and was blocked by Senate Republicans.
“This blatantly corrupt act shows that the President is just in it for himself,” Blumenthal said today on the Senate Floor. “Foreign governments have figured out how to get to Donald Trump. It's through his wallet, his vanity, and his bank account.”
“There’s a kind of fundamental principle here, and it goes back to the Founders. The American president is supposed to work for the American people. Not for his own enrichment. In foreign policy and on the international stage, he’s supposed to represent the United States of America, not his own business interests, or any foreign state or any business privately. That’s what the Emoluments Clause is meant to guarantee. It protects our national security as well as the integrity of our political system. When President Trump brazenly and shamefully flouts the constitutional protections implemented by the Founders to avoid improper influence, he violates one of the core principles of our Constitution.”
A video of Blumenthal’s Floor Speech is available here.
With accompanying videos on Twitter/X, Blumenthal further highlighted his resolution.
“I just got off the Senate Floor where Republicans blocked my resolution that would help to stop Trump's blatant, brazen corruption-like accepting payments & gifts from foreign governments,” wrote Blumenthal with an accompanying video on Twitter/X.
“Foreign gov’ts have figured out how to get to Trump. It's through his wallet. His willingness to use the privileges of his Office & violate the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause to enrich himself & his family knows no bounds. Congress simply cannot stand aside,” wrote Blumenthal on Twitter/X.
After Senate Republicans blocked Blumenthal’s unanimous consent request, Blumenthal led a group of eight Senators in writing U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) demanding a vote to authorize a lawsuit to prevent Trump from accepting any foreign payments, benefits, and other emoluments without congressional approval while in office.
“There is clear evidence that President Trump is directly profiting from funds received from foreign governments without the consent of Congress, in direct violation of his constitutional obligation and his oath of office. We cannot allow the President to blithely ignore his constitutional duties nor trample on Congress’s oversight role in stemming corruption and foreign influence—if the President refuses to seek our approval for the acceptance of foreign benefits, then we must hold him accountable in court,” Blumenthal wrote.
The full text of the letter is available here.
Following new reporting in the New York Times that a technology company with ties to China and reliant on TikTok intends to purchase as much as $300 million of President Donald Trump’s meme coin, Blumenthal announced a resolution condemning Donald Trump’s pattern of corrupt self-enrichment, selling out the public interest for his own benefit.
“My resolution will test Republicans— whether they will aid and abet Donald Trump’s self-enriching lawlessness thuggery, enabling his seemingly boundless greed. China and other foreign governments have figured out how to get to Donald Trump: through his wallet, his vanity, and his bank account. Trump’s two-month tariff policy threw our economy into a tailspin, zeroing out retirement accounts and putting small businesses out of business – backing out just twenty-four hours before a Chinese tech company announced plans to drop as much as $300 million into his crypto piggy bank,” Blumenthal said.
“Trump’s crypto corruption is so massive and brazen, there is little doubt that he will keep selling out the American people until Republicans grow a spine. Next week, while Trump dines with whoever has funneled the most money into his pocket, I’ll be calling for passage of this resolution as a test to see if Republicans are more than mere lackeys to President Trump’s self-enrichment schemes.”
Blumenthal further called out Trump’s corruption schemes on Twitter/X.
“In the wake of this Trump trip, watch for more Mideast nations investing in his corrupt crypto schemes—like UAE’s recent $2 billion deal. Actually, watching alone may be futile. Trump’s illegal profits from crypto ventures—$Trump & World Liberty Financial—have already made him $100’s of millions, putting a “For Sale” sign on the White House in “pay to play” deals. These illicit gains violate at least the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause. I’m investigating through PSI, beginning with letters to Trump’s business partners demanding facts. Trump’s trip to visit prospective investors will likely be followed by his sons to finalize the deals. The public deserves full disclosure & law enforcement,” wrote Blumenthal on Twitter/X.
On the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee
At a spotlight forum held by Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Ranking Member Blumenthal, former VA employees, toxic exposure experts, and advocates detailed their concerns with the Trump Administration’s cuts to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) care and benefits, and the negative impact it will have on the implementation of the PACT Act—a bipartisan law signed in August 2022 to deliver generations of toxic-exposed veterans and survivors their earned health care and benefits.
“The PACT Act has been an extraordinary gift to so many veterans, and I hesitate to use the word gift because it's what they deserve. It's what they've earned. It's not a handout. It's what we owe them,” said Blumenthal. “But…it works best when there's outreach. It works best when there is a team caring for them. It cannot work if the Secretary of the VA says, ‘We’ll fire everyone who's not a frontline worker.’ The VA is composed of frontline workers—the janitor who makes sure that VA health care facilities are clean and heated, the supply officer who makes sure that there are enough sterilizing equipment, the physicians, nurses, counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, schedulers. It's a team effort, and the PACT Act can't work if we don't have a team.”
Blumenthal also highlighted the gravity of VA Secretary Collins’ plans to cut 83,000 VA employees—deliberately returning VA to pre-PACT Act staffing levels and ignoring a law that represents the largest expansion of VA health care and benefits in decades: “There’s just no way—none—that the VA can provide [adequate] care and benefits with 83,000 fewer staff. Many of those staff were hired because they were needed to implement the PACT Act. There’s simply no way VA can meet the needs of veterans who are entitled to benefits and care if we slash 83,000 people from the workforce.” At last week’s Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee oversight hearing on the Trump Administration’s vision for the future of VA, Secretary Collins made no explicit mention of the PACT Act in his testimony, sending “volumes about this Administration’s non-commitment to implementing the PACT Act in the bipartisan way it was passed.”
A video of Blumenthal’s opening remarks can be found here.
With accompanying videos on Twitter/X, Blumenthal further highlighted his spotlight forum and slammed the Trump Administration’s deleterious VA cuts, freezes, and firings hindering veterans from receiving the care and benefits they deserve.
“Today’s spotlight forum w/ experts confirmed the Trump Administration's indiscriminate VA cuts, freezes, & firings are failing veterans exposed to toxic substance who rely on PACT Act support. We will hold this VA accountable to implement this law the way vets need & deserve,” wrote Blumenthal on Twitter/X.
“The PACT Act is an extraordinary measure helping veterans receive the care & benefits they deserve. Outreach is needed to ensure that our nation's heroes can access this support—outreach that won't happen if the Trump Administration continues to slash VA staff & resources,” wrote Blumenthal on Twitter/X.
Reintroducing the Kids Online Safety Act
Blumenthal and U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) were joined by Thune and U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in introducing the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). Last July, the Senate approved KOSA – the first major reform to the tech industry since 1998 – in an overwhelming 91-3 bipartisan vote.
“Senator Blackburn and I made a promise to parents and young people when we started fighting together for the Kids Online Safety Act – we will make this bill law. There’s undeniable awareness of the destructive harms caused by Big Tech’s exploitive, addictive algorithms, and inescapable momentum for reform,” said Blumenthal. “I am grateful to Senators Thune and Schumer for their leadership and to our Senate colleagues for their overwhelming bipartisan support. KOSA is an idea whose time has come – in fact, it’s urgently overdue – and even tech companies like X and Apple are realizing that the status quo is unsustainable. Our coalition is bigger and stronger than ever before, and we are committed to seeing this measure protecting children on the internet signed into law.”
With an accompanying video on Twitter/X, Blumenthal further highlighted his reintroducing of the Kids Online Safety Act and the critical support from parents and advocates for the legislation.
“We are united. The time is now to enact the Kids Online Safety Act,” wrote Blumenthal on Twitter/X.
Slamming Trump’s Unlawful Efforts to Dismantle the CPSC
Blumenthal hosted a press conference with consumer advocates to speak out against the Trump Administration’s attempts to dismantle the bipartisan, independent Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and unlawfully fire Democratic-appointed Commissioners who have worked to protect Americans from dangerous products.
“The President of the United States has illegally—illegally—fired members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. It is cruel, it’s dumb, and it’s unlawful. This agency literally has saved lives. It literally has taken harmful products out of your home—destructive products away from your children before they cause injury or death—and saved lives in your family and others. The reason these commissioners have been fired is pretty straightforward—they objected to dismantling the CPSC. These firings are totally political. These commissioners objected to the President destroying an agency that saves lives. This firing of three commissioners is simply to destroy the agency, and it violates the law,” said Blumenthal at the press conference.
A video of Blumenthal’s full remarks at the press conference can be found here.
Blumenthal further called out Trump’s endangering of American families through efforts to dismantle the CPSC on Twitter/X.
“Trump's attempts to fire CPSC commissioners is cruel, unlawful & dumb. The CPSC has saved lives & prevented injuries by removing harmful, destructive products from shelves & homes. Trump's efforts to dismantle the CSPC endangers families & children—& we won't stand for it,” wrote Blumenthal on Twitter/X.
“Trump is doing the bidding of corporate bigwigs in shutting down the CPSC, the product safety watchdog that takes dangerous, sometimes deadly products off shelves & out of homes. It’s cruel, dumb & illegal. I’m fighting it,” wrote Blumenthal with an accompanying video on Twitter/X.
Blumenthal Bulletin
Blumenthal demanded answers after the Office of Special Counsel shut down investigations into firings of federal workers.
Blumenthal joined colleagues in fighting to protect Head Start, Meals on Wheels, and social services from Republican budget cuts.
Blumenthal called on FBI to explain the agency’s decades-long failure to disclose key 9/11 evidence.
Blumenthal joined the Connecticut delegation and colleagues in filing an amicus brief slamming Trump’s lawless attempts to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Blumenthal called on the Trump Administration to step up and protect the flying public following Newark Airport blackouts.
Blumenthal demanded answers on chaos at the World Trade Center Health Program.
Blumenthal applauded passage of his resolution honoring Trinity College’s National Championship.
Blumenthal announced Hawai’i Governor Josh Green as the Minority Witness at first Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation Hearing of the 119th Congress.
Blumenthal called on the Trump Administration to take action to protect veteran caregivers.
Blumenthal called for the passage of his bipartisan Russian sanctions bill after Vladimir Putin skipped peace talks.
Blumenthal demanded transparency from Avelo Airlines about deportation flights.
Blumenthal warned of the dangers of hot cars with the start of summer weather.
Blumenthal joined striking Pratt & Whitney workers.
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