| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| And as he was taken away, he chanted, Free Palestine. | ||
| This is exactly the same chant we heard on October 7th. | ||
| On that day, thousands of terrorists stormed into Israel from Gaza. | ||
| Pierrot, the United States Attorney, welcome. | ||
| Our community today is reeling as a result of one person's actions. | ||
| Two families now are left to grieve for dreams that will never be realized. | ||
| And as I speak right now, there is an individual who is being presented in court and charged with various crimes. | ||
| 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, Illinois is now charged by complaint after his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh with the following. | ||
| Murder in the first degree for the murder of 30-year-old Yaron Levshinski, a foreign official and official guest of the United States. | ||
| Mr. Leshinsky was here on official business for the state of Israel. | ||
| The defendant Rodriguez is also charged with two counts of murder in the first degree for both Yaron Leshinsky along with 26-year-old Sarah Lynn Milgram of Kansas. | ||
| In addition, there are several felony firearms charges for discharging a firearm in the middle of a violent crime and for causing the death of an individual through the use of that firearm. | ||
| Now this investigation is continuing and as you can see we have most of the stakeholders here today who will be given an opportunity to speak with you. | ||
| But what I want to be clear about today, since this is the first time you're hearing from me, is that this is a horrific crime and these crimes are not going to be tolerated by me and by this office. | ||
| A young couple at the beginning of their life's journey about to be engaged in another country had their bodies removed in the cold of the night in a foreign city in a body bag. | ||
| We are not going to tolerate that anymore. | ||
| And I am not unaware, based upon my own background, of the repercussions of this kind of case. | ||
| This is the kind of case that picks at old sores and old scars, because these kinds of cases remind us of what has happened in the past that we can never and must never forget. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I want to mention one thing. | |
| The Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., where this young couple had been at an event, was built around a brick building. | ||
| That brick building was previously a synagogue called Adas Israel. | ||
| It was one of Washington's first synagogues, a congregation that was created in 1869. | ||
| And Ulysses S. Grant, our president, actually attended the dedication of that synagogue. | ||
| And so to this day, that synagogue and that area remains a cornerstone of the Jewish community in D.C. Let me also say that violence against anyone based on their religion is an act of cowardice. | ||
| It is not an act of a hero. | ||
| It is the kind of case that we will vigorously pursue. | ||
| Anti-Semitism will not be tolerated, especially in the nation's capital. | ||
| And we're going to continue to investigate this as a hate crime and a crime of terrorism. | ||
| And we will add additional charges as the evidence warrants. | ||
| So this charging today is the initial charge. | ||
| Remember, we're less than 24 hours from the crime itself. | ||
| And we are working furiously and diligently with our partners behind me. | ||
| We've got massive amounts of evidence that we are vetting, we are verifying, and we are reviewing. | ||
| This is the start and not the beginning. | ||
| And finally, let me say this: President Donald Trump appointed me to this position. | ||
| This is the nation's capital. | ||
| We should all be proud of this capital. | ||
| And the president wants DC safe. | ||
| And I and the partners behind me are going to do everything we can to make people proud of this city, whether they're from this city, from the country, or from other parts of the world. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Now I'm going to call on Mayor Muriel Bowser. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good afternoon. | |
| I'm Muriel Bowser. | ||
| I'm Mayor of Washington, D.C. | ||
| I want to thank Judge Pirro for inviting us today. | ||
| I'm joined by the Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, Pamela A. Smith. | ||
| Metropolitan Police Department is the local D.C. police. | ||
| We are here to echo what the U.S. Attorney has said: that this crime will not be tolerated in our city. | ||
| We're grateful for the partnership with our federal partners. | ||
| MPD and the FBI have worked hand in hand on this investigation and will continue to do so. | ||
| I also want to acknowledge our families in Washington, D.C., who are suffering and who are afraid and fearful for what this act has done to their sense of safety. | ||
| But we know that feeling is represented around the globe. | ||
| Earlier today, I convened a meeting with the Mayor's Interfaith Council, where we spoke with leaders of congregations and Jewish institutions across D.C., as well as D.C. council members and the Attorney General for Washington, D.C. | ||
| We heard our leaders reiterate messages of love and solidarity with the Jewish community. | ||
| Sadly, we have had practice standing together as a community to fight anti-Semitism, both in hate speech and in hateful acts. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And so in this moment, we stand shoulder to shoulder as one community, united in love, but also committed to justice for this young couple. | |
| I also had the opportunity to speak with the Smalls family. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And Sonny Smalls is well known in Washington, D.C. | |
| And his family has poured decades of time and love into making sure we have the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And one special aspect of that museum is that it celebrates local Jewish life. | |
| It focuses on D.C. Jews and how they have been a part of our culture in building the city that we love. | ||
| So once again, our city stands with our community, working with our institutions to make sure we have all the resources that we need to support them. | ||
| And with that, Judge, I'll turn it over to Chief Smith. | ||
| Good afternoon, everyone. | ||
| I'm Chief Pamela A. Smith, the Chief of Police of the Metropolitan Police Department. | ||
| Let me begin by reiterating my condolences to the family and friends of Yaron Lizinski and Sarah Milgram. | ||
| I also want to thank Mayor Mirror Bowser, Judge Pirro, and Director Jensen for their collaborative effort and support around this tragic incident. | ||
| What I also will say is that everyone at the Metropolitan Police Department is holding the family in their thoughts and in their prayers. | ||
| Our detectives have been working around the clock in close partnership with our federal partners, and this effort regarding this investigation has been a collaborative effort. | ||
| All of the agencies involved in this investigation have been coordinating seamlessly overnight. | ||
| Members of the Metropolitan Police Department's Office of Homeland Security Intelligence are working in partnership with the FBI to analyze the suspects' activity prior to the shooting. | ||
| Around D.C., and I want to speak specifically to the community here in the District of Columbia, around D.C., you will see an increased presence of law enforcement officers around the community. | ||
| You will find us around our faith-based organizations. | ||
| You will see an increased presence around our schools and places like the DC Jewish Community Center. | ||
| We stand shoulder to shoulder with our Jewish community. | ||
| I also met, along with Mayor Bowser, with some of our faith leaders. | ||
| I was moved by their desire to ensure that we keep our city safe and we keep our Jewish community members safe. | ||
| And we are ready to support them in any way possible as we move forward. | ||
| Most folks in this city know that I take the relationships that we have with our religious communities very seriously. | ||
| I want to again express and remind the community that if you see something, say something, please let us know. | ||
| Any information that you provide for us, we will utilize it in support of conducting this investigation. | ||
| I will now turn it over to the Assistant Director in Charge of the Washington Field Office, Steve Jensen. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Chief. | |
| As the Chief said, I'm Steve Jensen. | ||
| I'm the Assistant Director in charge of the Washington Field Office for the FBI. | ||
| And I'd like to start by reiterating what Director Patel pushed out publicly, that the tragic murder of these two Israeli embassy employees outside of the Capitol Jewish Museum last night was both an act of terror and directed violence against the Jewish community. | ||
| And it has the full and unwavering attention of the FBI. | ||
| The FBI Washington Field Office, JTTF, has been in lockstep with MPD. | ||
| And with the assistance of FBI offices across the country, we're continuing to investigate and contact the subject's associates, his family members, and co-workers. | ||
| We are also executing search warrants for his electronic devices, reviewing his social media accounts, and all of his internet postings. | ||
| Regarding some internet postings, we are aware of some writings that are purported to have been authored by this subject. | ||
| We're actively investigating to determine both the authorship and the attribution of these writings, if they belong to this subject or not. | ||
| I'd like to thank our partners in the U.S. Attorney's Office for bringing these significant federal charges in quick order within 24 hours or less than of the time of this incident. | ||
| Make no mistake, this attack was targeted anti-Semitic violence, and it won't be tolerated. | ||
| These significant charges are a step towards restoring justice for the victims and their families. | ||
| But our work is not done. | ||
| The FBI will continue to pursue all leads and use all available resources to investigate this attack. | ||
| We join MPD in affirming that there is no ongoing threat to this community. | ||
| And we're also seeking assistance from the public. | ||
| We do have gaps in this investigation currently. | ||
| We know the subject landed in the DC area on May 20th and that he was taken into custody on May 21st. | ||
| We're asking the public, anybody who had contact with the subject, anybody who knew his whereabouts, or where he was located during that gap of time, to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL FBI or to submit an online tip at tips.fbi.gov. | ||
| And with that, I will turn it back over to Judge. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| All right, we'll take a couple questions. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| Yes, we had spoken to a witness who said that this was a private event, that it wasn't publicized. | ||
| So is there any idea how he actually knew about this and showed up at this specific event? | ||
| You know, that's something that we're investigating right now. | ||
| I think that, Chief, you'd agree with me on that. | ||
| That's the kind of thing do we know? | ||
|
unidentified
|
And that's still under investigation. | |
| Yeah, we're looking at that. | ||
| There's a lot. | ||
| Everybody understand. | ||
| This is fluid. | ||
| It's happening now. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Madam U.S. Attorney, you mentioned terrorism. | |
| Can you speak to any possible nexus to terrorism? | ||
| And Assistant Director Jensen, are you confident that this gunman acted alone? | ||
| Is there any indication at this point that he was inspired? | ||
| And then also curious if the chief has any concerns about copycat attacks. | ||
| Well, first of all, let me say that we're going to continue, as I said, to investigate this as an act of terrorism and as a hate crime. | ||
| And as we do so, we will bring additional charges whenever those charges are warranted and provable. | ||
| And I suspect as we go forward, before we get to the grand jury itself, that there will be more charges added. | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Had there been any indication from the investigation so far that this subject was on the radar for the FBI or some other investigative agency around the country? | |
| Was he involved in any activism that might have put him on the radar? | ||
| And also, if you would also, on the issue of whether there were anybody else connected to him, obviously those writings were posted and the timing of that. | ||
| We're wondering whether you've indicated, you've seen any indication that someone connected to him might have been associated with posting those? | ||
| So a lot of questions. | ||
| Let me try and break it down. | ||
| Chief, I think you addressed some of this yesterday when we first initially briefed the public on this matter. | ||
| There was nothing in criminal records or in our holdings that indicated that this person was previously known to us or would have popped on our radar or MPD's radar. | ||
| We know that he originated outside of the district, came in for a conference on May 20th, and was a resident in the Chicagoland area. | ||
| That's what we know about him currently. | ||
| As far as associates, relatives, the reason we're checking associates and relatives is to put all the pieces together. | ||
| There's a lot of unknowns. | ||
| So known contacts, known relatives, known associates, these are basic investigative steps to put a picture, composite picture together of who the subject is, what did people know about him, and who was he closest to. | ||
| From that, we'll build out the investigation. | ||
| Aside from that, I couldn't answer more. | ||
| Okay. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi. | |
| A quick question. | ||
| Oh, sorry, Keith Alexander, Washington Post. | ||
| Were you seeking the death penalty? | ||
| Can you talk a little bit about that? | ||
| And also the night of May 20th. | ||
| Any idea where he stayed at all? | ||
| I think that we have an idea of that, but let me just say that, You know, the president and the attorney general have both indicated that, you know, in cases where the death penalty is warranted and seems appropriate, we will use it. | ||
| It's far too early to say whether that is the case, but this is a death penalty eligible case. | ||
| Do you want to talk about that, Chief? | ||
|
unidentified
|
The night. | |
| No, I think it's still a part of the investigation. | ||
| Definitely. | ||
| I think that right now he's been arraigned. | ||
| He's been presented. | ||
| Excuse me. | ||
|
unidentified
|
It's in progress. | |
| It's in progress. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Can you just, Mr. Jensen, can you just clarify one thing you said? | |
| You said he was in town for a conference. | ||
| Was that a different conference than the one that the event was then? | ||
| Can you tell us more about what that particular event is and another? | ||
| So we're still looking into the nature of the conference, we believe, associated with his work, and we are contacting his employer and trying to figure out what the nature of his job was. | ||
| We believe the reason for his flight was related to a conference for his work. | ||
| What's the nature of that work? | ||
| I don't have it at the top of my head. | ||
| And then the other question is: he seems to have been sort of stalking, I forgot what the word was, pacing in front of this event. | ||
| And he seemed to have had pretty easy egress in and out of the place. | ||
| What does that say about the level of security? | ||
| And are you investigating that? | ||
| And Mayor Bowser, are you considering increasing security around these sorts of events and institutions? | ||
| So regarding the movements of the subject, obviously still very much a part of the investigation. | ||
| Composite of collected videos, witness statements to put a full picture together before I would comment on any one particular act that he may or may not have been observed doing. | ||
| As far as security goes for a private entity, I wouldn't comment on that. | ||
| And as far as posture goes, I would defer to the mayor. | ||
| I think that the director is correct. | ||
| This was not an event that falls into our special events category where MPD and other government agencies have a stood-up posture. | ||
| This was a relatively small event at a museum, so MPD or the government agencies wouldn't stand up additional resources unless they were requested or unless we got a call for service. | ||
| More than that, I will say that we have had a local program and a federal program that have helped institutions, faith institutions, and others who have been concerned about violence, anti-Semitism, or other hateful speech and rhetoric. | ||
| And very recently, we have issued grants and we have issued grants over the last several years to those institutions to hearten their security, add cameras, add additional security. | ||
| And I believe that the museum has done some of those things. | ||
| I'm going to sneak one last time. | ||
| All right, I just want to follow up with this. | ||
| We've been advised that the defendant has appeared in court. | ||
| He's had an attorney appointed. | ||
| He's been advised by the judge that he could be punished by death or by life. | ||
| And of course, we sought detention. | ||
| The defendant waived his right to a detention hearing and concedes to detention. | ||
| And right now, a preliminary hearing is set for June 18th at 1 o'clock. | ||
| So it is done. | ||
|
unidentified
|
One clarification, Mr. Jensen. | |
| You are not ruling out this manifesto written by this gentleman, right? | ||
| We don't know. | ||
| We don't know. | ||
| And that's still very much a part of the investigation. | ||
| Sorry. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| I'm good. | ||
|
unidentified
|
All right. | |
| Thank you all. | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
| One more. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes. | |
| Were any MPD officers working details at this event last night, perhaps off-duty? | ||
| And then the follow-up to that, when you say that the FBI said a targeted event, do you believe the victims were targeted or simply the event was targeted? | ||
| So let me answer your first question, Mark. | ||
| MPD was not assigned to that event. | ||
| As you know, you've heard me say last night, there were security officers assigned to the event, but not Metropolitan Police Department members. | ||
| On or off duty, on or off duty. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And then the FDA. | |
| The targeting, was that the event that was targeted? | ||
| Are these two individuals specifically targeted? | ||
| We're not saying at this time. | ||
| One question that people are interested in is that it was announced and fairly well known that the Jewish Museum a short time ago opened a major LGBT exhibition. | ||
| And we were wondering if the investigation is looking into whether the suspects might have known something about that or might have had a lot of people. | ||
| Sir, we are looking into absolutely everything. | ||
| There is so much information we're looking at. | ||
| And I must tell you, coming from New York, I've never seen the cooperation and the collaboration that I'm seeing here. | ||
| It was immediate, it was instant, it was coordinated. | ||
| And my hat's off to this area. | ||
| And we're going to clean it up. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Is that you? | ||
|
unidentified
|
No. | |
| Thank you all. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Next, we hear from Jewish members of Congress following a shooting that took place at the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., killing two Israeli embassy staffers. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
| I'm Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. | ||
| I represent the 25th Congressional District in South Florida. | ||
| It's hard to find the words that brought us here today. | ||
| Last night, the manifestation of everything that so many of us in the Jewish community have talked about for an increasing crescendo of years now that the hate and bile that has resulted in vicious anti-Semitism, | ||
| anti-Semitic attacks across the country, some just scrawls on street corners and buildings, others attacks on Jews who are simply walking in their communities with identifiably Jewish insignia or attire and vitriolic online anti-Semitic hate. | ||
| We have all repeatedly, and leaders across our community have, and allies of ours have repeatedly expressed that eventually, eventually, this anti-Semitic, these anti-Semitic attacks would leap out of the virtual world, leap out of the verbal world, and end up in acts of violence and terror. | ||
| Well, last night, That is what happened here at the Capitol Jewish Museum. | ||
| This was an event that was being hosted by American Jewish Committee that brought together young diplomats and young professionals of all faiths to focus on interfaith, multicultural dialogue, and bringing people together. | ||
| When leaving that event, Sarah Milgram and Yaron Leshinsky, a couple who were Israelis, Sarah was an American that worked for the Israeli embassy, | ||
| were gunned down at point-blank range in cold blood because they were Jewish, because they were associated with the Israeli embassy, because they were targets of hate. | ||
| Yaron was a devout Christian, Sarah was Jewish, and they were due to be engaged next week in Jerusalem. | ||
| As a member of Congress who and we all employ so many young professionals, this entire city would collapse without the expertise and brilliance of the young professionals that help make sure that my colleagues and I here and senior officials across this city are able to help make sure that this country can run effectively and can thrive. | ||
| We could not do our work without them. | ||
| And as a Jewish mother of young Jewish professionals, my first thought was that could easily have been any of my kids or any of my staff. | ||
| I just, the six of us wanted to come today to make sure that we could express our sorrow, our grief. | ||
| I know I want to express Zichonam Levrecha. | ||
| May the memories of Sarah and Yaron be a blessing. | ||
| And we have to make sure that we come together across all faiths, all communities, all cultures, to express that this terror, this anti-Semitic hate against the Jewish community must end. | ||
| And we are a community that has consistently stood with other communities when hate is directed at them. | ||
| And we have been joined, not as often as we'd like, by other communities. | ||
| And so I know I hope so desperately that our communities can come together and continue the work that the Biden administration made with a whole of government approach to fighting anti-Semitism, come together to make sure that we can fight terror and make sure that our Jewish institutions and communities across this country are able to keep our people safe and secure. | ||
| Funding for non-profit security, the non-profit security grant funding has to be increased, has to be released so that the institutions that need to be able to have events like there was last night can keep the people who are participating safe. | ||
| And we all have to come together to make sure that we can stop this hate and anti-Semitic bigotry in its tracks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you so much for joining us. | |
| And we wanted to come and really express our grief. | ||
| And now I'll introduce one of the co-chairs of the Congressional Jewish Caucus, Congressman Brad Schneider from Illinois. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks, Debbie. | |
| I am Brad Schneider from Illinois' 10th Congressional District, and as mentioned, one of the co-chairs of the Congressional Jewish Caucus. | ||
| Debbie touched on the idea that there are so many young people in this town, driven by idealism, driven by the idea that Washington stands for something, that in our founding as a nation, all people are created equal. | ||
| Last night at this site, there was a gathering sponsored by the American Jewish Committee of young professionals, diplomatic professionals, who were dedicating their careers to the idea of building bridges, bridges between people and bridges between nations. | ||
| Jewish tradition, going back to Rabbi Hillel, famous quotation: If I am not for myself, who will be? | ||
| But if I'm only for myself, what am I? | ||
| The idea that we belong together. | ||
| As a nation, our motto, e pluribus unum, from many one. | ||
| That's the ideal we all believe in and strive for every day in this city. | ||
| But there's another reality, a reality that's been true my entire life. | ||
| As a young child, I remember going to synagogue on high holidays, and there would be extra security. | ||
| There'd be guards. | ||
| In the 1970s and 80s, those guards started carrying longer guns. | ||
| And in the last number of years, those guards have started appearing not just on the high holidays, but every single day. | ||
| And in the 19 months since October 7th, 2023, we have seen a rise of anti-Semitism that has been unprecedented in my lifetime. | ||
| So much so to the point that people are told, don't wear outwards display of your faith. | ||
| Wear a baseball cap instead of a yarmulke. | ||
| Take your Star of David and tuck it in your shirt. | ||
| There is a real fear. | ||
| So as we gather here today, we are overwhelmed by emotions. | ||
| Emotions of grief at the loss of two beautiful young people who were prepared to make a life together, heading to Israel to become engaged, to make a promise to each other for a future, united, and to have that future cut short last night. | ||
| And instead, their families, rather than gathering under the chuppah, will be gathering beside a grave, saying a kaddish instead of seven blessings. | ||
| We have grief, we have fear, but we're not surprised at what happened, and we are not going to back down. | ||
| The resolve of all of us standing here, the resolve of every American Jew, the resolve of Jews around the world is that we will hold on to who we are with pride and defiance. | ||
| We know our place is in this city, in this country, for us within the governing halls of the United States, and we will not let anyone tell us we don't belong. | ||
| We are overwhelmed with the grief for two beautiful souls. | ||
| But we must be inspired by their spirit and their example. | ||
| They were here last night participating in a program about reaching out. | ||
| That is who they are. | ||
| That is how they will be remembered. | ||
| We're here today to mark their murder, to express our sorrow. | ||
| But we must stand to ensure their memory is always a blessing. | ||
| We cannot let their death be in vain. | ||
| We must stand up against hate, against anti-Semitism, against efforts to divide people, and instead make sure we work to unite people. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| It's now my honor to turn over to my colleague, Jamie Raskin. | ||
| I'm Jamie Raskin. | ||
| I represent Maryland's 8th District, which is Montgomery County, Maryland, just next door. | ||
| We've come to express our sorrow, our horror, our shock, and our outrage at the grievous anti-Semitic murder of these two beautiful young people. | ||
| We've come to express our sympathy and our solidarity with their families and their friends, with everyone who has been affected by this nightmare. | ||
| There is no justification ever for murder. | ||
| There is no justification ever for terrorism. | ||
| And we must stand unified as a community against the horror that just took place in the capital city yesterday. | ||
| Anti-Semitism is a threat to Jewish people everywhere. | ||
| It's a threat to other people everywhere. | ||
| And anti-Semitism is the gateway to destruction of pluralism and democracy all over the world. | ||
| So we must stand strong against this poison and we must stand with the victims of anti-Semitism and every other form of racism and bigotry on earth. | ||
| And I just want to thank my colleagues from out of town who have decided to stay here in order to come to make this statement as Congress adjourns. | ||
| And I want to thank Brad Schneider and Jerry Nedler for their leadership of the Jewish caucus. | ||
| Sarah Jacobs from California. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Like my colleagues, I'm horrified by the murder of Yaron and Sarah. | |
| May their memory be a blessing and a comfort to all who knew them. | ||
| And I think it's important to talk about the significance of where we're standing today, the Capitol Jewish Museum. | ||
| Because this museum serves as a hub for Jewish life, for Jewish community here in DC, for preserving and celebrating the rich history and culture and contributions of Jewish communities. | ||
| It's a space for building community, creating dialogue, and education which is so needed to address the enduring stereotypes and misconceptions about the Jewish community. | ||
| A shooting like this took lives from us. | ||
| It's also meant to scare us. | ||
| It's meant to take away the places where we should feel safe. | ||
| It's meant so that every Jewish parent, like my brother and sister-in-law, who are dropping their babies off to a Jewish preschool this morning, take a little pause. | ||
| It's meant so that every person who wears a yarmulke or a Jewish star like I often do wonders, should I wear this today? | ||
| Should I put this on? | ||
| It's meant so that every time we walk into a synagogue, into a community center, or just down the street, we wonder if we're safe. | ||
| But we came here today to honor Yaron and Sarah and to show that Jews will not shy away from public life. | ||
| They are trying to scare us, but we will not be scared away. | ||
| And we're going to keep working to rid the world of anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred and racism and bigotry so that Jewish people and all people can feel safe everywhere. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| my colleague Kim Schreier. | ||
| Thank you for being here. | ||
| I'm Kim Schreier. | ||
| I represent sort of the middle of Washington State. | ||
| And I am here with my Jewish colleagues, also in mourning and in sympathy with the families of Yaron and Sarah, who just came to an event last night, an event that any of us could have been at, and were gunned down because of either their religion or nationality by someone who didn't know anything about them but targeted them for that reason. | ||
| And it's a reminder. | ||
| I mean, every time we start to feel safe and take a breath and feel like we're okay in this country, something happens. | ||
| Tree of Life Synagogue. | ||
|
unidentified
|
This absolute tragedy. | |
| And I think about, well, that's the reason that my son, since preschool, has been going to a synagogue with guards at the door where you have to talk to somebody at the gate just to get into the parking lot. | ||
| And these experiences are meant to scare us, but they're also meant as a reminder that these last 50 years have been kind of a break from thousands of years of anti-Semitism, that it's not gone, that it's been reborn since October 7th of 2023, and that we're all worried. | ||
| And when it happens to one group, it means really no group is safe. | ||
| And that's an important message to get across. | ||
| We live in the United States of America. | ||
| We have the ability to disagree, to disagree openly, to express thoughts, to protest peacefully, and political violence and hate crimes are never ever the answer. | ||
| And that just adds to the grief that we're all feeling right now for Yaron and for Sarah and for their families. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Congresswoman Laura Friedman from California. | |
| Hi, I'm Laura Friedman and I represent parts of Los Angeles. | ||
| This is such a shocking and heartbreaking day. | ||
| And when I saw the news early this morning of what happened last night, like my colleagues, I was heartbroken, but I also unfortunately was not completely shocked because this event is one of a string of violent and despicable events that we have seen against the Jewish community for the last several years. | ||
| But we can't let that become the norm in this country. | ||
| It shouldn't be normal or acceptable that my synagogue in Los Angeles was tagged with swastikas. | ||
| It can't be normal that my 11-year-old goes to Hebrew school on Sunday and has to have an armed guard open the door to protect a bunch of 10 and 11-year-olds. | ||
| It can't be normal that after a horrific murder that everyone in this nation should be condemning, we also wake up to see online responses, thousands of people in this country, probably some of them real people, hopefully a lot of them bots, but probably some real people justifying this murder, excusing this murder, trying to minimize this murder. | ||
| That should be unacceptable to everyone in this nation. | ||
| Because if, like me, if you believe that America is a place where everyone is welcome and everyone should be able to practice their religion freely, if like me you believe that everyone in this country should feel safe, regardless of their political views, their sexual orientation, their religion, or their race, if your religion commands you to welcome a stranger in a strange land, if you believe in law and order, if you're any of those things, | ||
| if those are your values, there's no way that you could justify or minimize this horrific murder or any anti-Semitic event. | ||
| And we have got to, as people who hold those values as Americans, push back on the violent rhetoric that we see on the extremes in this nation. | ||
| The extremist movements that we see that choose to take individuals and put them into groups that they feel are lesser than or are unwanted and refuse to see the humanity and the American-ness behind every single individual in this country. | ||
| We all have a responsibility to push back on the conspiracy theorists among us who, in the case of anti-Semitism, choose to underlie their conspiracy theories with ancient anti-Semitic tropes about the Jews being controllers, controllers of media, controllers of capital, controllers of opinion. | ||
| And whenever those opinions creep into the discourse online or in person, all of us have a responsibility, Jew and non-Jew, to say, no, that's not who we are as Americans. | ||
| That's not who we want our nation to be. | ||
| That we want a different kind of America. | ||
| Because what we are seeing now is completely unacceptable and everyone should be standing up to reclaim the soul of this country. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| With that, I think we'll take questions. | ||
| They've developed the platform, they've taken concrete actions. | ||
| What, beyond slogans, platitudes, what concrete actions are Democrats proposing to deal with this rise of anti-Semitism beyond the national strategy that Mr. Emkoff put out last year? | ||
| What is the plan here? | ||
| Nobody, you answered the question. | ||
| Last year, President Biden and last year, the administration, under the leadership of President Biden with second gentleman M Hoff, put out an all-of-government strategy to address anti-Semitism. | ||
| Did they do anything with it? | ||
| This is something that isn't a partisan issue. | ||
| Democrats and Republicans need to work together to stand up against anti-Semitism whenever it rises, from wherever it rises, and be clear that there is no room for hate in our country, that we will welcome all people into our country who believe in the ideals defined in our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution, and we have been working with that. | ||
| We have a bipartisan task force fighting anti-Semitism that goes back to 2014. | ||
| So it's it's can I just jump in and add. | ||
| As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, I can run through a list for anyone who would like to know what Democrats have attempted to do. | ||
| I want to just make sure that it's understood that we're here to express grief and to express our outrage about the death of the murder of two young, incredibly beautiful people who had their whole lives ahead of them, and that this hate has to stop. | ||
| And so let's show you how we can stop anti-Semitism in its tracks. | ||
| We need to all come together to increase the funding for the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Education. | ||
| When I offered an amendment last year during the appropriations process in committee, Democrats supported the amendment to increase that funding. | ||
| This is the office that investigates anti-Semitism in educational institutions all across the country, and unfortunately, Republicans opposed it. | ||
| We have had years and years of fighting to increase the funding for nonprofit security grants. | ||
| Nonprofit security grants is the funding for institutions like the Capitol Jewish Museum, like synagogues and mosques and other religious institutions and nonprofit organizations and JCCs across the country that sadly have to fund the security guards and the security infrastructure and architecture to keep congregants and participants in events that attend events like the one from last night that keep them safe. | ||
| But we have not always had bipartisan support to increase that funding. | ||
| We've had an administration that has for a time refused to release funding that was already appropriated. | ||
| And so making sure that we actually are fully engaged in getting resources out in these communities to keep people safe, which is what I was referencing when I opened my remarks, is critical. | ||
| But I'll just close on this question with this. | ||
| We all need to stand together to fight anti-Semitism and any form of hate and bigotry. | ||
| What we don't need is to be weaponizing anti-Semitism, to use anti-Semitism as a weapon and as an excuse to discriminate against and perpetrate hate against other people and take away other people's rights. | ||
| I just had my last two children graduate from college two weeks ago. | ||
| That's okay. | ||
| And thank you. | ||
| They're launched. | ||
| And I can tell you that we heard stories from my kids' friends and even on even on the campus that they attended and I worried every day. | ||
| Congresswoman Schreier, Congressman Schneider and I sat down last year with kids from Georgetown, George Mason, and GW when the encampment was still embedded on that campus. | ||
| And we heard their fear and the persecution that they went through, the halting and preventing of them from being able to cross the threshold of their classroom doors, being spat upon. | ||
| And we helped make sure that we could get that encampment disassembled and that we stood with students across this country to help make sure we could keep them safe. | ||
| But we're not going to allow our community and anti-Semitism to be used as a weapon that will just blow back on our community like it always does for Jews because eventually we get blamed for everything. | ||
| And so, yes, we must stand against anti-Semitism. | ||
| We must use resources and we need to have the whole of government plans that the Biden administration implemented to truly ensure that we can embed the fight against anti-Semitism in every policymaking decision across this country. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thank you for being here today. | |
| Thank you, Anton. | ||
|
unidentified
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Yeah, and you're the key people next question. | |
| I would just like to put an even finer point on this. | ||
| I want to be really clear that what is happening right now with using anti-Semitism as an excuse specifically to crack down on institutions of higher learning, that is not acceptable to the vast majority of American Jews. | ||
| It is antithetical to our values. | ||
| We understand that these institutions are the institutions that support liberal democratic values, the values that allow Jewish people in this country to thrive and accomplish for the past 50 years. | ||
| And I just want to condemn using us as an excuse to crack down on free speech and to crack down on students and to deny funding for our universities that we all graduated from and we are so proud of. | ||
| That is my comment. | ||
| Next question. | ||
| Any other questions? | ||
|
unidentified
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I apologize. | |
| Some of us have played, so we're going to wrap it up here and we can take individual questions as we go. | ||
| And none of us have slept at the same time. | ||
| Yeah, right. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thank you very much. | |
| We'll take questions off to the side. | ||
| Thank you so much. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thanks again, Ghost. | |
| May their memories be a blessing. | ||
|
unidentified
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a statement following the shooting deaths of two Israeli embassy staffers outside the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. | |
| He also talks about the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. | ||
| Last night in Washington, something horrific happened. | ||
| A brutal terrorist shot in cold blood a young, beautiful couple, Yaron Lushinsky and Sarah Milgram. | ||
| Yaron had just bought an engagement ring for Sarah. | ||
| He was planning to give it to her in Jerusalem next week. | ||
| They were planning to start a new and happy life together. | ||
|
unidentified
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Well, that tragically did not happen. | |
| Yaron and Sarah weren't the victims of a random crime. | ||
| The terrorists who cruelly gunned them down did so for one reason and one reason alone. | ||
| He wanted to kill Jews. | ||
| And as he was taken away, he chanted, Free Palestine. | ||
| This is exactly the same chant we heard on October 7th. | ||
| On that day, thousands of terrorists stormed into Israel from Gaza. | ||
| They beheaded men, they raped women, they burnt babies alive, they butchered 1,200 innocent people and took 251 innocent people hostage to the dungeons of Gaza. | ||
| A short time afterwards, Chancellor Schultz of Germany visited Israel. | ||
| And after he saw the horrors, he said to me, these Hamas terrorists are exactly like the Nazis. | ||
| He was right. | ||
| And if they could get away with it, these Hamas terrorists would have slaughtered every last Jew on earth. | ||
| For these neo-Nazis, Free Palestine is just today's version of Heil Hitler. | ||
| They don't want a Palestinian state. | ||
|
unidentified
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They want to destroy the Jewish state. | |
| They want to annihilate the Jewish people who've been in the land of Israel for 3,500 years. | ||
| I could never understand how this simple truth evades the leaders of France, Britain, Canada, and others. | ||
| They're now proposing to establish a Palestinian state and reward these murderers with the ultimate prize. | ||
| Well, for 18 years, we had a de facto Palestinian state. | ||
| It's called Gaza. | ||
|
unidentified
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And what did we get? | |
| Peace? | ||
| No. | ||
| We got the most savage slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. | ||
| You won't be surprised to learn that Hamas thanked President Macron and Prime Ministers Starmer and Kearney for demanding that Israel end its war in Gaza immediately. | ||
| Hamas was right to thank them, because by issuing their demand replete with a threat of sanctions against Israel, against Israel, not Hamas, these three leaders effectively said they want Hamas to remain in power. | ||
| They want Israel to stand down and accept that Hamas's army of mass murderers will survive, rebuild, and repeat the October 7th massacre again and again and again, because that's what Hamas has vowed to do. | ||
| I say to President Macron, Prime Minister Kearney, and Prime Minister Starmer, when mass murderers, rapists, baby killers, and kidnappers, thank you, you're on the wrong side of justice. | ||
|
unidentified
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You're on the wrong side of humanity, and you're on the wrong side of history. | |
| Now, these leaders may think that they're advancing peace. | ||
|
unidentified
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They're not. | |
| They're emboldening Hamas to continue fighting forever. | ||
| And they give them hope to establish a second Palestinian state from which Hamas will again seek to destroy the Jewish state. | ||
| And mind you, it's not going to be a state free of Hamas. | ||
| When you establish a Palestinian state, we've seen it. | ||
|
unidentified
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The radicals take over. | |
| Iran sends them in and they take over. | ||
| So don't give us this talk. | ||
|
unidentified
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It'll be a peaceful Palestinian state. | |
| It won't be. | ||
| But the hypocrisy doesn't stop there. | ||
| These and other leaders have bought into Hamas's propaganda that says Israel is starving Palestinian children. | ||
| And not only is Hamas putting out this lie, a few days ago, a top UN official said that 14,000 Palestinian babies would die in 48 hours. | ||
| You see, many international institutions are complicit in spreading this lie. | ||
|
unidentified
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The press repeats it. | |
| The mob believed it. | ||
| And a young couple is then brutally gunned down in Washington. | ||
| So here are the facts. | ||
| Since October 7th, Israel has sent 92,008 trucks into Gaza. | ||
| That's right, 92,000 aid trucks. | ||
| That includes 1.8 million tons of aid, 1.8 million tons of aid, more than enough food to feed everyone in Gaza. | ||
| Yet as we had let the aid come in, Hamas stole it. | ||
| They took a huge chunk for themselves. | ||
| The rest they sold at exorbitant prices to the Palestinian population. | ||
|
unidentified
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And then they used the money they stole to recruit new terrorists to continue their war against Israel. | |
| Our goal from the start was to get food to Palestinian civilians, not to Palestinian terrorists. | ||
|
unidentified
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So we consulted with our American allies. | |
| What do we do to prevent Hamas from looting the aid? | ||
|
unidentified
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Well, together we devised a mechanism to achieve this goal. | |
| American companies will distribute the food directly to Palestinian families. | ||
| They'll do so in safe zones secured by our military. | ||
|
unidentified
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And this will allow us to complete our goal of destroying Hamas while enabling aid to reach the civilian population. | |
| We'll complete the construction of the first distribution zones in the coming days. | ||
|
unidentified
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Ultimately, we intend to have large safe zones in the south of Gaza, and the Palestinian population will move there for their own safety while we conduct combat in other zones and receive humanitarian aid there without Hamas interference. | |
| In the meantime, we authorize letting trucks enter Gaza to provide for immediate needs. | ||
|
unidentified
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Yesterday, I think more than 100 trucks went in. | |
| More will come in today. | ||
| I tell you this. | ||
| No army in the world has ever gone to such lengths to provide aid to the civilian population in the midst of intense combat. | ||
|
unidentified
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And Hamas, of course, opposes this. | |
| It shoots Palestinian civilians who want to leave for safe zones, and it shoots Palestinian civilians who want to prevent Hamas terrorists from looting the aid trucks intended for them. | ||
| As for the hostages, we'll do every effort to secure them. | ||
|
unidentified
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I'm ready for a temporary ceasefire to get more out, but we demand, and you should demand, that all of our hostages be released and released immediately. | |
| And so should every civilized country demand this. | ||
|
unidentified
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We're in an intense seven-front war that was launched against us by Iran and its proxies. | |
| Sometimes in war, accidents happen. | ||
| One such incident happened the other day in Jenin, and thankfully no one was hurt. | ||
|
unidentified
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Our military has expressed its regret over the event because we don't target civilians or diplomats. | |
| We target terrorists. | ||
| Exactly the opposite of Hamas. | ||
| They target civilians, ours, and they hide behind civilians, theirs. | ||
| They use them as human shields. | ||
| That's a double war crime. | ||
| But I don't hear that coming from anyone of those countries that criticize Israel. | ||
| For those who say that Israel stands alone, I say we're not alone. | ||
|
unidentified
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Justice stands with us. | |
| The truth stands with us. | ||
| History stands with us. | ||
| And so do countless people around the world who can tell the difference between right and wrong, between good and evil. | ||
| I want to thank all of them. | ||
| And I especially want to thank President Trump and the American people for their forthright stand with Israel and with the Jewish people. | ||
| Together we stand, together we'll triumph, and we'll see the victory of civilization over barbarism. | ||
| Next, Attorney General Pam Bondi speaking to reporters outside the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. about a shooting that killed two Israeli embassy staff. | ||
| Can Jews feel safe here in the United States? | ||
| I'm from Germany, so far this is a very specific question. | ||
| Sure, and it's not only here, it's not only in Germany, it's around the world that everyone needs to feel safe. | ||
| You have to feel safe in this country, and this hate speech has got to stop. | ||
| We have to come together as not only a community here, but as a nation and as the world. | ||
| And you being from Germany, you see that. | ||
| We have to keep everyone safe. | ||
| And that is the job right now of the Metropolitan Police, Mayor Bowser, Janine Pira. | ||
| We were all out here all night long. | ||
| Everyone is working together as a team. | ||
| FBI, ATF, our U.S. Marshals are out here trying to protect everyone. | ||
| But our Jewish community must feel safe. | ||
| What we saw last night was disgusting. | ||
| I saw a young man's body being taken away who was about to get engaged. | ||
| She had an entire life in front of him, and that was taken away. | ||
| The hate has got to stop and it has to stop now. | ||
| And this person will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. | ||
| You all have to understand, I can't talk about the facts. | ||
| I can't talk about anything else now. | ||
| They are working tirelessly to make sure this investigation goes proper. | ||
| It is. | ||
| Everyone is working together. | ||
| And that's what's going to happen now. | ||
|
unidentified
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Can you talk about the threats? | |
| Is there an increased threat level? | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
| You spoke to Prime Minister Netanyahu. | ||
| I did. | ||
| What did you talk about? | ||
| I did. | ||
| I spoke to Prime Minister Netanyahu last night. | ||
| I was with Ambassador Leiter and Prime Minister Netanyahu called while I was with him. | ||
| I spoke to him, and of course he was devastated. | ||
| He was devastated. | ||
| And it broke my heart to talk to BB last night. | ||
| He was devastated. | ||
| And I assured him we were looking into this. | ||
| Of course, all of our investigators were working together. | ||
| And I also spoke to President Trump multiple times, who was just heartbroken and devastated by this. | ||
| And, you know, his first directive to us was make America safe again. | ||
| And that's what we are going to do. | ||
| There is no place for this hate in our country and in our world. | ||
|
unidentified
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And has the threat level been increased? | |
| Has the threat level been increased at Israeli missions around the country? | ||
| Yes, I can tell you that, yes. | ||
| The question was, has the threat level been increased? | ||
| I can tell you security has been increased here as of last night. | ||
| Our U.S. Marshals are working hand in hand to make sure the embassy is safe, our ambassador is safe. | ||
| And again, please know everything we know now, he acted alone. | ||
| From everything we know now, this is an ongoing investigation. | ||
| But, you know, whether you're Jewish or not, be vigilant. | ||
| You know, this is the last thing these two young people, they were at a religious event right around the corner from where we're standing. | ||
| A religious event with friends and with co-workers. | ||
| They walked outside to go home and were gunned down. | ||
| That cannot happen in our community. | ||
| And this is the day where we all need to come together no matter what religion we are. | ||
| And, you know, the Muslim religion actually reached out to our rabbis and offered condolences and sent a beautiful message that they just showed me. | ||
| And that's what should be happening in our world. | ||
|
unidentified
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What was the security posture prior to the shooting yesterday? | |
| How many armed security guards, police officers were on the scene? | ||
| Yeah, I don't know that. | ||
| I only got here after the shooting took place, so I'm sorry I can't answer that. | ||
|
unidentified
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Attorney General, is this a security failure? | |
| Because we're very close to the Washington FBI's field offices. | ||
| This is typically our area with a high police concentration. | ||
| Well, I don't think anyone would have expected what happened last night. | ||
| They were in an event, a beautiful event. | ||
| People were, it was a dressy event. | ||
| They were dressed up. | ||
| They were all together and just celebrating and walked outside and they barely made it outside, as you know, when this happened. | ||
| But no, I think law enforcement were on the scene immediately because of that. | ||
| And the great men and women of the FBI are doing an incredible job, as well as Metropolitan Police. | ||
| Our ATF agents were out here. | ||
| Our U.S. Marshals were out here working hand in hand with the mayor and the police chief, who I cannot say enough good about right now. | ||
| And that's what we need to do. | ||
|
unidentified
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Focus on the reports of the manifesto. | |
| The reports of the manifesto out. | ||
| Yeah, I can't comment at all on the facts of the case right now. | ||
| You will get a briefing at some point. | ||
| Thank you all. | ||
| Law enforcement will brief you later. | ||
| Again, they're looking at all the facts and the evidence. | ||
| And the reason I'm out here this morning is I had a scheduled interview before this happened yesterday. | ||
| And then the rabbis call me and ask if I would come out and be with them. | ||
| I know a lot of these rabbis, they ask if I would come out. | ||
| There is a ritual when a Jewish person dies, and they come and they clean the blood from the scene. | ||
| And that's what when you saw that happening over there this morning, I'm sure your cameras caught that. | ||
| They were scrubbing the floor. | ||
| That's what they do because in the Jewish tradition, they want to get all of their blood off the floor, even out of the cracks of the sidewalk. | ||
| And all of these men out there are volunteers and they're doing this. | ||
| They didn't know these young people personally. | ||
| They didn't know their families personally. | ||
| And they came out here and they're cleaning their blood. | ||
| They put it in a bag, and then that bag will be buried with these two beautiful young people who lost their lives way too young. | ||
| So they were saying a prayer. | ||
| We were with them for that prayer. | ||
| And that's when every religion right now in America needs to come together. | ||
| Let's do everything we can. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thank you. | |
| Thank you guys very much. | ||
|
unidentified
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C-SPAN's Washington Journal, our live forum inviting you to discuss the latest issues in government, politics, and public policy from Washington to across the country. | |
| Coming up Friday morning, Sarah Chifo of the League of Conservation Voters on how clean energy initiatives enacted in the Biden administration could be changed if Republicans pass their 2026 budget bill. | ||
| Then the Federation for American Immigration Reforms Julie Kirchner on the GOP budget bill's provisions related to immigration and border security enforcement. | ||
| C-SPAN's Washington Journal. | ||
| Join the conversation live at 7 Eastern Friday morning on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile video app, or online at c-span.org. | ||
| In a nation divided, a rare moment of unity, this fall, C-SPAN presents Ceasefire, where the shouting stops and the conversation begins in a town where partisan fighting prevails. | ||
| One table, two leaders, one goal, to find common ground. | ||
| This fall, ceasefire on the network that doesn't take sides, only on C-SPAN. | ||
| Next, Prime Minister's Question Time with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. | ||
| Topics include the UK's arm sales to Israel, British asylum law, and a debate over inheritance taxes for farms. | ||
| The Prime Minister also announced a major change in heating assistance payments for low-income families in the 2025-26 winter season, saying his Labour Party government intended to take up expanding the program as it put together a budget plan in the coming months. | ||
| Right, we come to Planner's questions. | ||
| Louis Cockey. | ||
| Question number one, please, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Plain Minister. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, my deepest condolences, and I'm sure those with the whole House, are with the families and friends of Jenny, Martin, and David, tragically killed in the fire in Vista last week. | ||
| May I also welcome to the gallery Cheryl Corbel, the mother of Olivia. | ||
| I'm always humbled by those with the courage to respond to appalling heartbreak by campaigning for change. | ||
| And I know the whole House will pay tribute to her extraordinary courage and extraordinary resolve. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, because of the action taken by this government, the UK is now the fastest growing economy in the G7. | ||
| Interest rates have been cut four times and we've secured our third trade deal in three weeks. | ||
| India, the US and the EU. | ||
|
unidentified
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Deals in the national interest that improved the lives of working people and businesses across the United Kingdom. | |
| Mr. Speaker, this morning I had meetings with Minister of colleagues and others. | ||
| In addition to my duties in this House, I shall have further such meetings later today. | ||
| This Labor government has been in power now for almost 12 months. | ||
| So when will the Prime Minister stop defying the will of the British people, stop dancing around the subject and stop all illegal immigration into the United Kingdom, which has been rising under his watch? | ||
| It was the last government that lost control of immigration. | ||
| Record numbers on net migration, lost control of the borders. | ||
| We're bringing forward legislation to give law enforcement the greatest possible powers. | ||
| What are they doing? | ||
| They're voting against it. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | |
| Whilst the economy is showing signs of improving, many pensioners are still impacted by the cost of living crisis. | ||
| People in Luton who have worked hard all their lives, seeing their precious savings slip away. | ||
| So can the Prime Minister tell us what measures he will take to help struggling pensioners in towns like mine? | ||
| Prime Minister. | ||
| Well Mr. Speaker, we all know the economy was left in an absolute mess by the Tories. | ||
| We had to stabilise the economy with tough decisions but the right decisions. | ||
| Because of those decisions, the economy is beginning to improve. | ||
| Those growth figures last year, the highest growth in the G7, interest rate cuts, four in a row, three trade deals. | ||
| But I recognise that people are still feeling the pressure of the cost of living crisis, including pensioners. | ||
|
unidentified
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And as the economy improves, we want to make sure people feel those improvements in their days as their lives go forward. | |
| And that is why we want to ensure that as we go forward, more pensioners are eligible for winter fuel payments. | ||
| As you would expect, Mr. Speaker, we will only make decisions we can afford. | ||
| That is why we will look at that as part of a fiscal event. | ||
|
unidentified
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Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Berdunov. | |
| Mr. Speaker, it is extraordinary listening to that last answer from the Prime Minister. | ||
| Inflation was 2% when Conservatives left office. | ||
| 2%. | ||
| It's now nearly double that. | ||
| When will he recognise that it's Labor's budget driving up inflation? | ||
| I think what she forgot to say was over 11% on their watch and she didn't say a watch. | ||
| I am confident those numbers will come down, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| The Bank of England is confident those numbers will come down. | ||
| That's why we're seeing four interest rates in a row. | ||
| But I noticed she can't resist grabbing any opportunity to talk the country down. | ||
| She doesn't mention the growth figures, the interest rate figures, record investment, wages up more than prices, 200,000 jobs created, four trade deals. | ||
| And the reason, Mr. Speaker, they haven't learned, they haven't changed. | ||
| And as George Osborne said, she doesn't have a credible economic plan. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this is laughable from the Prime Minister. | ||
| He knows that inflation was brought down by us to 2%, bang on target. | ||
| We were reacting to a war in Ukraine that brought inflation up all over Europe. | ||
| While he is doing trade deals with countries like the US and India, their inflation is going down. | ||
| It's going up here. | ||
| Why? | ||
| The ONS says the inflation figures are driven by significant increases in household bills. | ||
| We warned him repeatedly that this is exactly what would happen, what his policies would do. | ||
| We called it Awful April. | ||
| The Prime Minister came into office saying that he would tackle the cost of living crisis. | ||
| He has failed. | ||
|
unidentified
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He hasn't got a clue, has he? | |
| Mr. Speaker, she talks of their record, the disastrous Liz Trust Mini budget. | ||
| Inflation threw the work. | ||
| They left a £22 billion black hole. | ||
|
unidentified
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Living standards at an all-time low. | |
| Energy prices through the roof. | ||
| Mortgages through the roof. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, we're taking measures to bring prices down. | ||
| That EU deal would bring prices down. | ||
| That's why supermarkets welcomed it. | ||
| What did she do? | ||
| She opposes measures to bring prices down. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, he needs to stop whining about what the last government did. | ||
| And look at what he is doing. | ||
| He is the Prime Minister. | ||
| Look at the numbers this morning. | ||
| As if inflation figures weren't bad enough. | ||
| We've also learned that the Deputy Prime Minister is on manoeuvres. | ||
| He's lost control of the economy. | ||
| He's lost control of his cabinet. | ||
| She's sitting there staring at me. | ||
| She knew exactly what she was doing when she briefed that into the papers. | ||
| She is demanding, Mr. Speaker, eight new tax rises, as if we haven't suffered enough. | ||
| People out there are struggling. | ||
| Businesses are struggling. | ||
| People are losing their jobs. | ||
| We cannot have more tax rises. | ||
| Will the Prime Minister rule out new tax rises this year? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, she's not learned or changed. | ||
| They lost the election because their appalling record on the NHS, on health, on prisons, you name it. | ||
| And now she accuses everyone of whining about the impact that had on the clock. | ||
| It had a huge impact on working people across the country and they're absolutely right to complain about it. | ||
| She wants to talk about the Deputy Prime Minister. | ||
| The Deputy Prime Minister working with the Chancellor, building 1.5 million new homes, reforming our planning system, putting £7 billion into our economy and bringing forward an employment rights bill, which is the single biggest upgrade to workers' rights in a generation. | ||
| That's desperate stuff. | ||
| The whole House would have heard the Prime Minister refuse to rule out new tax rises. | ||
| The whole House heard it. | ||
| He didn't rule it out. | ||
| His cabinet is open warfare. | ||
| The Deputy Prime Minister clearly calling the shots. | ||
| What is it that we've learned? | ||
| We're heading for new tax rises. | ||
| We know inflation is up. | ||
| It's just more and more bad news from a Prime Minister who has lost control. | ||
| So we heard his earlier answer, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| We heard his earlier answer on winter fuel. | ||
| Let's try and get some more information. | ||
| I'm going to ask him a simple question. | ||
| It only requires one word, yes or no. | ||
| Is he planning to U-turn on winter fuel cuts? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I made clear in my earlier answer that as the economy improves, we want to take measures that will impact on people's lives, and therefore we will look at the threshold, but that will have to be part of the fiscal event. | ||
| But Mr. Speaker, they lost control of every element of the economy, of prisons, the borders, the NHS, you name it. | ||
| And now she's lost control of her party. | ||
| They are sliding into oblivion. | ||
| They will have to trade on their past, Mr. Speaker, because that's all they've got. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I made it really easy for the Prime Minister. | ||
| Just a simple question, yes or no. | ||
| And he could not answer. | ||
| I wonder how the public feel about a man who can't give a straight answer to a simple question. | ||
| And you look at all of them behind him, all of them cheering. | ||
| When this inevitable U-turn on winter fuel comes, and it will from a desperate Prime Minister, what will he say to the 348 MPs who went over the top and voted for the winter fuel cut last September? | ||
| Just like the British public, how can any of them ever trust him again? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, it's only because of the measures we've taken that the economy is improving. | ||
| Growth at the highest rate since the G7. | ||
| Four interest rate cuts, three trade deals, because countries want to trade with this country because of the decisions that we've made. | ||
| All of those decisions opposed by the party opposite. | ||
| They've learned absolutely nothing and they're going absolutely nowhere. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this is a Prime Minister who says he's taking measures. | ||
| The jobs tax is killing jobs. | ||
| Inflation is up. | ||
| Business confidence is down. | ||
| Everyone is worried. | ||
| He promised to cut bills, but today we see they are rising because of his policies. | ||
| He promised not to raise taxes on working people, but his jobs tax means people are losing their jobs. | ||
| Every week we come here with a new company that is saying they are shedding jobs. | ||
| That's on his watch. | ||
| He promised to protect pensioners, but his winter fuel cut has driven thousands into hardship. | ||
| His MPs hate this. | ||
| He can't see them, but they all look sick just hearing what it is They're laughing. | ||
|
unidentified
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I expect better from whips. | |
| And boys all the bike. | ||
| I've got my eye on you, everybody. | ||
| Mr. Speaker? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Oh, hold on, oh, oh, sh- Sorry. | |
| Which one wants to leave first? | ||
| If I hear it, where we are, they've got the first volunteer. | ||
| Are you going to behead? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, they are laughing just as they laughed at the budget. | ||
| Hands up, who here wanted winter fuel cuts? | ||
| Hands up. | ||
| Not a single one of them. | ||
| Not a single one of them. | ||
| The fact of the matter is, this Prime Minister is destroying them. | ||
| They need to look at what they are doing to the country. | ||
| The truth is, we all know that it is this Prime Minister, this Labour government, and their policies that are shafting the country, isn't it? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, they look in pretty good form to me, and there's lots of them. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, she talks about business confidence. | ||
| Yesterday I didn't have time to read out the list of all the businesses that have come out in support of our EU deal. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I don't have time today. | ||
| It's a long list. | ||
| I went immediately to Liddell and spoke to the staff in Little. | ||
| They're delighted with the deal we put forward yesterday. | ||
| Business like the work we're doing. | ||
| It's giving them confidence in the EU deal. | ||
| She's opposed to each and every measure. | ||
|
unidentified
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Louise Jones. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I recently visited Barrow Hill Primary School in my constituency of North East Derbyshire, a school in receipt of a new free breakfast club. | ||
| The team there are doing a fantastic job, but challenges still remain. | ||
| What more can we do as a government to support both them and local parents to give the children of Barrow Hill the start in life that they deserve? | ||
| Thank my honourable friend. | ||
| We are united by a shared focus on creating better life chances for our children. | ||
| I'm delighted to hear her constituents are already benefiting. | ||
| Thanks to our plan for change, we'll deliver free breakfast clubs in every primary school in England. | ||
| I'm determined to support parents to give every child the best start in life. | ||
| And that's why we're rolling out free childcare, expanding the first 300 school-based nurseries and delivering more family hubs. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Can I associate myself with the Prime Minister's remarks about the terrible fire in Bista last Thursday? | ||
| I know from my honourable friend, the member for Bica and Woodstock, how deeply the close-knit community there has been affected by this tragedy. | ||
| Firefighters Martin Sadler and Jenny Logan were true heroes, as was Dave Chester. | ||
| I think I hope the full prayers and thoughts of the House are with their loved ones and with the two firefighters still in hospital. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has rightly said that his new trade deals will give a much-needed boost to economic growth and thus to the public finances. | ||
| So will the Prime Minister make sure that struggling families and pensioners see the benefits of the growth? | ||
| He teased the House with his first answer to his honourable friend, the member for Luton North. | ||
| So will he commit now to reversing his cuts to the winter fuel payment in full? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, firstly, can I just thank him for his comments about the Bista tragedy? | ||
| It's very important that at a moment like this, the House does come together. | ||
| We are taking measures, obviously, to help with the cost of living crisis, and that's why the EU deal yesterday was so important because the impact it will have on prices, particularly in supermarkets, directly affecting those who are affected by the cost of living crisis. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, what I said before was this: that the economy is beginning to improve. | ||
| People are still feeling the pressure. | ||
| That's why we're taking the measures that we are. | ||
| That's why we're striking the trade deals that we are striking. | ||
| As that improves, I do want people to feel the benefit of the measures that we are taking. | ||
| And that is why I want to ensure that more pensioners are eligible for winter fuel. | ||
| It is important that, as you'd expect, we are clear we can afford the decisions we're making, and that's why it will now be looked at at a fiscal event. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I think I welcome what the Prime Minister has said, but we will look at the details. | ||
| I hope he will use some of these new proceeds to help others like carers. | ||
| Because the government's changes to PIP will have big consequences for family carers, like Ginny, who cares for her husband Tim, who has myotonic dystrophy. | ||
| Ginny holds her husband's hand to keep him steady as he walks. | ||
| He falls frequently and chokes on his food. | ||
| Ginny is the sole earner in the family. | ||
| She works part-time on top of caring for Tim. | ||
| But she's calculated that under the government's cuts, her family will lose £12,000 a year. | ||
| So, can the Prime Minister tell Ginny and many family carers like her what does he expect them to do? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, we have approached this on the basis of the principles that we must support those who need support. | ||
| On the question of getting people into work, that we should support people into work where they can work and, of course, where they could work, they should. | ||
| But it is undeniably the case that the current arrangements don't work and need to be reformed. | ||
| And that's why we're bringing forward reform, necessary reform, to ensure the system works better. | ||
| Andali Spitchley. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, yesterday in this place, I read the victim impact statement Cheryl Corbel never got to say to her daughter's killer, Thomas Cashman, because he refused to face her in court. | ||
| I made up Olivia's law past second reading. | ||
| But until it gets royal assent, criminals can still not show up and deny victims justice. | ||
| So will the Prime Minister commit to making sure Olivia's law becomes law as fast as possible? | ||
| Can I thank her for reading that victim impact statement? | ||
| Because I know from talking to Cheryl just how hard it was for her to make that victim impact statement in the first place. | ||
| It took a huge amount of courage and grief. | ||
|
unidentified
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And she wanted to read that statement to the perpetrator, as she should have been able to do. | |
| And I know how visceral the pain is to her of not being able to have done so from the meetings I've had with her. | ||
| So I do thank my honourable friend for allowing that victim impact statement to be heard by the whole world by being read out in this chamber. | ||
| Cowards who commit these heinous crimes should face the consequences of their action and face those that have had huge impact on their lives. | ||
| And that's why we will force offenders to attend the sentencing hearings with longer sentences, unlimited fines and prison sanctions for those who seek to avoid facing justice. | ||
| I can again pay tribute to Cheryl, who I will meet later on this afternoon, for having the incredible courage to push for that change, notwithstanding the incredibly painful impact it's had on her and her family. | ||
| The government assures us that Northern Ireland is still in the United Kingdom's Customs Union. | ||
| If so, how is it then that British steel can be sold to the United States tariff-free? | ||
| But if the same British steel is sold into Northern Ireland, it's subject to EU tariffs. | ||
| Why on Monday did the Prime Minister not even try to take back control over the trade laws that govern Northern Ireland? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, it is important that we reduce tariffs on steel into the US market or other markets, including the EU markets, for obvious reasons. | ||
| It is also vital that we seek to ensure that we reduce any barriers in trade within the United Kingdom as a whole. | ||
| Yesterday was a step towards that. | ||
|
unidentified
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There's further work to do, but we do want to get to that place where we can trade without those borrowers in the United Kingdom. | |
| We'll continue to work on that. | ||
| Andrew Bakes. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| The Prime Minister will know that thriving high streets are essential to local growth. | ||
| But in cities like mine, people are increasingly concerned by the uncontrolled growth of betting shops and vape stores. | ||
| Research shows this concern is not isolated. | ||
| Nearly half of betting shops and gambling stores are in the 20% of places which are struggling the most, like Peterborough. | ||
| So can I ask the Prime Minister, will he ask his departments to meet with me and campaigners so we can discuss ways that local communities like mine can take back control of our high streets? | ||
| My honourable friend is an excellent champion for his constituents and we are committed to supporting our nation's high streets to adapt and thrive. | ||
| Planning applications are required for any new betting office to make sure locals have a say on individual cases and communities can use the planning system to allow for a change of use of their properties. | ||
| I will make sure that he gets the meeting that he's asked for. | ||
| Thank you Mr. Speaker. | ||
| On Friday the EFA Select Committee published its report on the government's vision for agriculture. | ||
| The committee agrees with the government that land purchase being used to shelter wealth from inheritance tax is a problem that needs to be tackled. | ||
| As a cross-party committee with a government majority, however, we took the unanimous view that the government's current proposals for inheritance tax reform will catch too many family farms who will simply not be able to pay the bill. | ||
| We are asking for the changes to be paused and reworked. | ||
| Will the Prime Minister listen to the Select Committee and those on his own benches who want to tackle tax evasion and support the farmers who keep producing food for the nation's people? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, he knows the very limited impact of the inheritance tax only on farmers at very, very high levels. | ||
| But he will also know the record amount of money we put in at the budget into farming and, of course, the measures taken yesterday with the EU deal, which will massively help farmers selling their products into the EU market. | ||
| Juliet Duckley. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| The Wrexham, Shropshire and Midlands Railway is on track to link North Wales and my Shrewsbury constituency directly to London with five trains daily, strengthening cross-border travel and fuelling this government's mission to drive economic growth. | ||
| With 15 members from constituencies along the route already on board, will the Prime Minister support our journey and urge the Office for Rail and Road to give WSMR's open access application the green signal? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, our plan for change will see the railways reformed to deliver more reliable and better value services to passengers right across the country. | ||
| My honourable friend has been a champion for better railways and easier journeys for her constituents. | ||
| Open access operators have huge potential to offer passengers more choice. | ||
| I'd be delighted to make sure that she and other interested MPs meet with the Rail Minister to put their case forward. | ||
| Dr. Neil Budson. | ||
| Thank you Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I think I'm right in saying that the Prime Minister might be a lawyer trained to review evidence and reach judgment. | ||
| So when he looks at the effects of his decisions, cutting the winter fuel payment, making pensioners poorer, damaging businesses with the jobs tax, decimating rural communities with the family farm tax, and risking our food security by selling off our fishing waters, surely he can review the evidence and see the verdict. | ||
| Will the Prime Minister now throw these damaging policies out of his court once and for all before they do any more harm? | ||
| Well the evidence is certainly coming in. | ||
| Growth is the highest in the G7. | ||
| Four interest rates in a row and trade deals with countries across the world who want to do deals with this country because they can see the stability that this government has brought about. | ||
| Instability with them, stability and growth with this Labour government. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | |
| This is National Epilepsy Week and we're joined in the gallery by England rugby player Tommy Freeman who was diagnosed with epilepsy at 19 but through effective treatment has gone on to be selected for the British and Irish Lions and I hope the Prime Minister will join me in congratulating you on that great achievement. | ||
| But for a third of epilepsy sufferers' seizures cannot be controlled by medication, like my constituent Ben Lacey, who suffers multiple seizures every single day. | ||
| Ben will never be able to work, yet has been subject to the stress and uncertainty of multiple pit reassessments. | ||
| So will the Prime Minister reaffirm his commitment to ensuring that people like Ben with lifelong conditions who cannot work will be protected from these damaging reassessments and given the support they need to live with dignity? | ||
| Can I begin by congratulating Tommy and everyone selected to represent the British and Irish Lions? | ||
| It's an incredible achievement and we'll be cheering them on. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, it's important that we do protect those with severe disabilities or lifelong health conditions who can't work, paying them a premium and stopping those reassessments, which is part of the reform that we're bringing about. | ||
| Ultimately, we also do need to get back to face-to-face assessments by trained assessors and health professionals, which fell to only one in ten assessments under the last government. | ||
| Thank you, Mr Speaker. | ||
| This Prime Minister keeps telling his gullible backbenchers, those over there, that he's deported 24,000 people from this country since he came into power. | ||
| But he won't say who these people are. | ||
| Now, it's my guess that they are people that came on work visas, students, and they are simply overstayers. | ||
| But I'm willing to be proved wrong if you can answer one simple question. | ||
| How many of these people that he's deported are failed asylum seekers that's come on small boats on the back of Roris? | ||
| Answer the question. | ||
| Prime Minister. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I'm very proud that we've removed over 24,000 people. | ||
| That's the highest record for nearly 10 years. | ||
| We're taking other measures to get back control of our borders, including the Borders Bill, which gives our law enforcement enhanced powers, including terrorism-like powers. | ||
| What did his party do? | ||
| What did he do? | ||
| He voted against them. | ||
| And I'll tell you why he voted against them. | ||
| Because they don't want to fix this problem, because it benefits them. | ||
| It benefits them not to fix it. | ||
| Party before country. | ||
| It's very good he's standing in for a member for Clapton. | ||
| I have to say there was no sign of him yesterday at the EU. | ||
| And he was the first through the e-gates somewhere south of France. | ||
|
unidentified
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Let's work if you can get it. | |
| Christine Sullivan. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I welcome the government's investment of £680 million into mental health support. | ||
| Meanwhile, in Scotland, many children in my constituency of Bathgate and Lunluthko are stuck on an NHS Lolian neurodevelopmental waiting list, which was only recently seen patients referred in March 2022. | ||
| This delay can lead to poor mental health, with children ending up on a CAMS waiting list too. | ||
| How will the Prime Minister work with devolved governments to ensure faster diagnosis and greater support so that no child across these isles grows up on a waiting list? | ||
| I thank you for her question. | ||
| She rightly raises the broken promises of the SNP on mental health services powerfully. | ||
| It is important and we will have positive discussion with devolved governments to work on addressing mental health waiting times. | ||
| But look, the SNP promised to invest in frontline mental health services, then cut them by £54 million in real terms this year. | ||
|
unidentified
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Now with a record settlement in the budget, two decades in power, the SNP are out of excuses and out of ideas and Scotland deserves better than that. | |
| If the Prime Minister agrees that the Israeli government starving children to death is monstrous, why does he think it's okay for the UK to continue to sell Israel the equipment for the fighter jets to drop bombs on these starving children? | ||
| What we contribute into a pot is parts for fighter jets. | ||
| And if we were to stop that, they couldn't be used by other countries in the other conflicts, including those in which we are involved. | ||
| It doesn't know the detail at all. | ||
|
unidentified
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They're not sold directly. | |
| They go into a pot. | ||
| If we were to stop that, they wouldn't then be available to others around the world who desperately need them in the conflicts they're engaged in. | ||
| And that's why we won't do it. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| The Dementia Gateway, my constituency of Starbridge, was recently at risk of closure following £42 million worth of budget cuts by the Conservative-run Dudley Council. | ||
| The Gateway is a vital service for dementia patients and their carers, providing daytime activities, advice and support from trained advisers, and following a well-fought campaign with cross-party support. | ||
| The Dementia Gateway has been saved. | ||
| So, this Dementia Action Week, would the Prime Minister join me in congratulating Lisa and the campaigners? | ||
| And does he agree with me that services like the Dementia Gateway in Starbridge are essential and support the government's mission to provide quality care in our communities close to home? | ||
| Can I thank my Honourable Fend and celebrate Lisa and all those who've saved this important source of local support? | ||
| The party opposite left local councils on the brink, unable to provide these vital services, letting down patients across the country. | ||
| We are committed to improving dementia care for our plan for change, which is why we've provided £69 billion boost for local government, invested £26 billion in the NHS, and made £3.7 billion available for social care, including an £880 million increase in the social care grant. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Does the Prime Minister agree that imprisoning Lucy Connolly, a young mother with a 12-year-old daughter, for one foolish social media post, soon deleted, is clearly not an efficient or fair use of prison? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Speaker, sentencing is a matter for our ports, and I celebrate the fact that we have independent courts in this country. | |
| I am strongly in favour of free speech. | ||
| We've had free speech in this country for a very long time and we protect it fiercely. | ||
|
unidentified
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But I'm equally against incitement to violence against other people. | |
| I will always support the action taken by our police and courts to keep our streets and people safe. | ||
| Paul Foster. | ||
| Thanks, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I recently visited St Catharine's Hospice in Lost Occol, which serves wonderfully my constituents of South Ribble, those of River Valley, and some of your constituents of Chorley. | ||
| I discovered speaking to them that they have to pay in excess of £350,000 a year for medication and it can only be sourced from the private sector, not the NHS. | ||
| Doing some investigating, I found there's an ICB post-code lottery out there. | ||
| Some ICBs fully funded supply or medication, some subsidised, some don't supply it at all. | ||
| There's also a disparity where evidence supports that hospices in the more deprived areas aren't funded, those in the more affluent areas are funded. | ||
| Would the Prime Minister please speak with the Secretary of State for health and social care as a matter of urgency and get free medication supplied by all ICBs to all hospices across the country? | ||
| Well Mr. Speaker, we have put record amounts into the NHS in the budget and we're beginning to see the results of that. | ||
| I accept the point he makes and we will look again to make sure the money is properly used in the most efficient way. | ||
| A month ago I was denied entry into Hong Kong on a private visit. | ||
| At the absence of any explanation, this seems to hint at a hidden blacklist aimed to silence any MP who speaks up against human rights abuses from the Chinese government. | ||
| Many of us from any political party, does he agree with me that this is an attack on all of us? | ||
| And will he personally seek reassurances from the Hong Kong authorities that no British parliamentarian will be denied entry in this way again? | ||
| Can I thank her? | ||
|
unidentified
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Her experience is deeply concerning, and I know it must have affected her. | |
| I think she was hoping to see and later saw her grandchild, but it must have impacted on her, and it is deeply concerning. | ||
| We need to recognise that. | ||
| Ministers have raised it, including the Foreign Secretary, on numerous occasions with their counterparts both in China and Hong Kong. | ||
| Preventing UK citizens, including members of parliament, from entering Hong Kong without justification or for simply expressing their views, is completely unacceptable and it will only undermine Hong Kong's international reputation and the relationship that we have with them. | ||
| And so we will continue to raise it. | ||
| John MacDonald. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, you will know that I've raised on several occasions in the House the case of Ala Abdel Fatah, the British Egyptian human rights campaigner, who for several years now, many years now, has been imprisoned in Egypt and whose mother, Leila, went on a 100-day hunger strike. | ||
| I want to thank the Prime Minister for fulfilling his promise to contact the President Sisi of Egypt to secure Ala's release. | ||
| But unfortunately, months on now, and Ala remains in prison. | ||
| And Leila this week has started her hunger strike again. | ||
| Could I appeal to him to speak directly again to President Sisi to secure Ala's release? | ||
| Well, can I thank him for raising this not just today but on the many occasions that he has. | ||
| It is incredibly important that we do everything we can in this case. | ||
| I have met Leila and given her my commitment to do everything I possibly can. | ||
| I have had a number of contacts myself, but I'm not going to stop doing everything within my power to secure release. | ||
| Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Would the Prime Minister join me in welcoming my constituent Teddy, who is six years old, and with his mum Laura, who've come to see us today at Prime Minister's questions? | ||
| Teddy is a self-professed eco-warrior on a mission to change the world. | ||
| He started out by saving thousands of plastic chocolate and sweet tubs from landfill because they're not currently recyclable. | ||
| Will the Prime Minister commit to ask his Minister for Local Government to meet with Teddy and myself to discuss how we make these tubs recyclable? | ||
| And does he agree with me that no matter how small you are, you are never too little to make a big difference? | ||
| Well, can I welcome Teddy on my behalf and on behalf of the whole House? | ||
|
unidentified
|
It is really incredible that Teddy has done so much already and is in the gallery somewhere. | |
| Many of us struggle for a whole lifetime to make an impact on government policy. | ||
| Teddy is already aged six, having an impact, and I'll make sure that he gets to speak to the relevant minister. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Final question, Rosie Wright. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Following on from my honourable friend, I also want to mark that this week is National Epilepsy Week, an important opportunity to raise awareness of a condition that affects so many but often remains invisible. | ||
| Epilepsy comes with fear and uncertainty, the anxiety of having a seizure, the impact of losing a driving licence and the worry about medication shortages. | ||
| In the UK, one in 100 people live with epilepsy. | ||
| That's up to six of us in this chamber, including myself. | ||
| So today I ask the Prime Minister will he join me and the inspiring campaigners watching from the gallery in marking National Epilepsy Week as we continue to raise awareness of seizures. | ||
| Can I congratulate my honorable friend for her tireless campaigning on this issue and those campaigners who are with us today? | ||
| I know the impact epilepsy has on people across the country, including on over 100,000 children and young people. | ||
| We are committed to improving care for people with neurological conditions and setting up UK-wide Neuroforum to improve treatment and care for those with such conditions. | ||
| That completes Prime Minister's question. | ||
| Mike said before, I happened to listen to him, he was on C-SPAN 1. | ||
| That's a big upgrade, right? | ||
| But I've read about it in the history books. | ||
| I've seen the C-SPAN footage. | ||
| If it's a really good idea, present it in public view on C-SPAN. | ||
| Every single time I tuned in on TikTok or C-SPAN or YouTube or anything, there were tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people watching. | ||
|
unidentified
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I went home after the speech and I turned on C-SPAN. | |
| I was on C-SPAN just this week. | ||
| To the American people, now is the time to tune in to C-SPAN. | ||
|
unidentified
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They had something $2.50 a gallon I saw on television a little while ago in between my watching my great friends on C-SPAN. | |
| C-SPAN is televising this right now live. | ||
| So we are not just speaking to Los Angeles. | ||
| We are speaking to the country. | ||
| C-SPAN, democracy unfiltered. | ||
| We're funded by these television companies and more, including Mediacom. | ||
| This is binging, that's buffering. | ||
| This is a meetup. | ||
| That's a freeze-up. | ||
| Power home, power struggle, security detection, no protection. | ||
| You can have this or you can have that. | ||
| This is MediaCom, and this is where it's at. | ||
| MediaCom supports C-SPAN as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front-row seat to democracy. | ||
| Book TV, every Sunday on C-SPAN 2, features leading authors discussing their latest non-fiction books. | ||
| Here's a look at what's coming up this weekend. | ||
| At 2:45 p.m. Eastern, Book TV presents coverage of the 2025 San Antonio Book Festival. | ||
| You'll hear authored discussions on the Uvalde school shooting, Texas history, the impact of Jose Cuervo Tequila on America-Mexico relations, and more. | ||
| And at 8 p.m. Eastern, attorney Christine Menitas, author of Why the World Doesn't Make Sense, argues that Americans are unknowingly giving up their freedom and sovereignty to the government, private institutions, and global organizations. | ||
| And then at 9 p.m., Jonathan Cohen with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences looks at the downside of legalized sports gambling, dominated today by companies like FanDuel and DraftKings, with his book, Losing Big. | ||
| Watch Book TV every Sunday on C-SPAN 2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at booktv.org. | ||
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| Well, next, Democratic lawmakers speak out against a gala being hosted at President Trump's private golf club in Northern Virginia for people investing in the president's meme coin. | ||
| 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 Licardo, for joining us here today. | ||
| 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. | ||
| 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. | ||
| 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 U.S. taxpayer. | ||
| 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 and an anonymous individual who is going to make an ask of the president tonight that we don't know about. | ||
| 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. | ||
| And so we're here today, you know, 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? | ||
| 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. | ||
| 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. | ||
| 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 Ludnick, Paul Atkins, and David Sachs, 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. | ||
| Trump, number three, disbanded the DOJ's crypto enforcement, excuse me, effectively crippling enforcement of the current laws. | ||
| The timing on this was particularly juicy. | ||
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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. | ||
| Tonight, though, is the topper. | ||
| Tonight is the orgy of corruption. | ||
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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. | ||
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This time, he issued a stable coin 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. | ||
| And the corruption is already paying off handsomely for the criminals. | ||
| Justin's son, 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. | ||
| 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. | ||
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We need to put a stop to this. | |
| And with that, I turn it over to Jeff Merkley. | ||
| Senator Merkley. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
|
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Thank you. | |
| There is a big for-sale sign on the White House salon, U.S. 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 U.S. 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. | ||
| 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 stable coin 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 USD-1, 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 we'll not only have the digital coins, we'll also buy influence with the United States of America. | ||
| You know, 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 prevalency of foreign corruption in Republican governments. | ||
| That's why. | ||
| And you might recall that just 10 years after we were founded, we had the XYZ affair, where the French tried to extract bribes from the United States of America in order to start negotiations. | ||
| This was a real threat. | ||
| Today, it isn't just a threat from foreign governments. | ||
| It's a threat from foreign corporations. | ||
| It is a threat from foreign individuals. | ||
| And 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 by for the people is being corroded massively. | ||
| 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. | ||
| That's what this isn't government buying for, this is government buying 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 Licardo from California. | ||
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Thank you, Senator. | |
| 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 MEMAC here on the Senate side. | ||
| And I appreciate that they let me over here 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 and violation of the due process or whatever may come of these horrible tariffs. | ||
| Now, of course, we get 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. | ||
| 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's son, 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 ACC and their action halts. | ||
| Weeks later, Justin's son 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. | ||
| Now, earlier today, Carolyn Levitt 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 office is 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 the great state of Connecticut. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
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Let me begin where the congressman ended. | |
| This story is about Donald Trump, but it's also about Republicans. | ||
|
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It's about Republicans having no backbone or spine. | |
| It is about Republicans complicit in Donald Trump's corruption. | ||
| They are aiding and abetting corruption by their silence, by their complicity. | ||
| And they are 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? | ||
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The plane that is a gift of $400 million in effect. | |
| The fight, fight, fight, meme transactions that put already $300 million 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, Live 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. | ||
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The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation, which I was chairman of and now ranking member of, has written, the minority staff 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 have written to them saying, give us lists. | ||
| Who is 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 $100 million 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. | ||
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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? | ||
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Mixing it up with these individuals who want access. | |
| Donald Trump is selling access. | ||
| He is selling out America. | ||
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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 by putting the President in a compromised position in relation to foreign powers. | ||
| So my hope is that they will 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. | ||
| Right now, it has no such prohibition. | ||
| It must. | ||
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And 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. | ||
| And with that, let me introduce Lisa Gilbert of Public Citizen, and I want to thank all of the groups that are here today, Public Citizens, Crew, and Citizens United. | ||
| These advocates have really been so important and courageous in carrying this fight and disclosing information that is so important. | ||
| Lisa? | ||
| Thanks so much for that, Senator. | ||
| I'm Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen. | ||
| A 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. | ||
| 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. | ||
| Crypto holdings now account for nearly 40 percent 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, 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, a dinner that he has called the most exclusive invitation in the world. | ||
| 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 U.S. 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. | ||
| 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. | ||
| 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. | ||
| 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. | ||
| And beyond this outrageous crypto griff 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. | ||
| You know, 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, and unfortunately, the list just goes on and on and on. | ||
| 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 Crewe. | ||
| Thanks, Lisa. | ||
| 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. | ||
| I'm Noah Bookbinder. | ||
| I'm the president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CRU. | ||
| Crew is 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. | ||
| Earlier in my career, I served as a federal corruption prosecutor. | ||
| And then in my years at Crewe, over the course of Donald Trump's first term, Crewe tracked more than 3,700 conflicts of interest, all of which stem from Donald Trump's failure to meaningfully divest from his business holding. | ||
| 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 a country has ever seen. | ||
| It's over the top, even for Trump. | ||
| 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. | ||
| 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, limited how much money they could spend. | ||
| 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. | ||
| And 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. | ||
| 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. | ||
| And 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. | ||
| 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. | ||
| 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. | ||
| And with that, I will pass it on to my great colleague, Justin Unga at N Citizens United. | ||
| Thank you, Noah. | ||
| Good afternoon, everybody. | ||
| My name is Justin Unga. | ||
| I'm a vice president at N 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 4 million members strong in every part of the country and growing every day. | ||
| Thank you to the senators and representatives who are here today leading this fight for transparency. | ||
| Thank you to Senator Murphy and Representative Licardo 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. | ||
| 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 two dolls. | ||
| 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 links, crypto wallets. | ||
| The transactions are untraceable. | ||
| And the press and the public are shut out. | ||
| Unknown foreign actors are opening their wallets for President Trump. | ||
| Some say this is a backdoor 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. | ||
| And it's a slap in the face for hardworking Americans who have been forced to strap in and ride the roller coaster of 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 hardworking families to choose between the medicine they need, the food, or putting food on the table. | ||
| 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 multi-million dollar luxury jet from a foreign government than fighting to protect the health care for veterans, seniors, and children. | ||
| It's shameful. | ||
| It is urgently, 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. | ||
| Thank you, Justin. | ||
| Justin, Noah, Lisa, thank you for the work that you do every single day to protect the taxpayers. | ||
| I just want to 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 health care from 15 million Americans, making the poorest 10% of Americans even poorer, while he dines lavishly with foreign oligarchs who are patting 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. | ||
| Sam, thanks for sticking around if there's any questions. | ||
| I would be happy to have you take them. | ||
| 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 the response from senators like Ruben Gallego and Kristen Chilibrant has been: look, what the President is doing is already illegal under the law. | ||
| So why do we need to force this issue? | ||
| Well, it's certainly illegal under the emoluments clause, but as Noah pointed out, it is often difficult to enforce the emoluments clause. | ||
| The quickest 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. | ||
| 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 meme coin and other types of cryptocurrencies into the mix. | ||
| But yes, I mean, obviously, what he's doing is illegal and unconstitutional, but we want to 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. | ||
|
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Yeah, go ahead. | |
| Jesse Hamilton, point to Tana's 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 Act prioritized and those who think it's too important to not deal with it, is that revealing a divide among Democrats on that? | ||
| Well, I mean, I can only speak for myself. | ||
| I mean, 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, you know, to me, fighting and shutting down the corruption needs to be the priority. | ||
| And we still have an opportunity to get that done. | ||
| I know there are a number of Democrats who voted to proceed on this bill who are contemplating voting against final closure 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 going to 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. | ||
| Murphy, I've also read the card earlier. | ||
| I wonder how these conversations with your Republican colleague, colleagues, go. | ||
| Are you actively talking and having meetings about these? | ||
| Is there any receptiveness to these whole issues? | ||
| Because I've been talking to some of the POP lawmakers, and there's a sort of an unwillingness to accept that. | ||
| You even accept that Trump is having these data. | ||
| They're like, oh, I don't know anything about that. | ||
| That's not my problem. | ||
| That's it. | ||
| We talked to the President's office. | ||
| So I wonder if it's different on your side. | ||
| 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 an entirely 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 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. | ||
| You know, there are several Senate Republicans on record expressing real reservations and outright opposition to what the president is doing with the meme coin. | ||
| That's why it's important for us to force a vote. | ||
| I mean, 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. | ||
| 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 stateful act in House Financial Services. | ||
| It does not have a provision like that. | ||
| I mean, 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 on this? | ||
| Well, I think reasonable minds can disagree about this. | ||
| I strongly support the bill that Senator Murphy's introduced and that I've introduced on the House side, obviously. | ||
| I would strongly support its inclusion and 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 with an industry, and I think Senator Murphy put it very well, we have a very serious challenge with our democracy. | ||
| Thanks, everybody. | ||
| Appreciate it. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you, man. | ||
| Thanks. | ||
| Yeah, I appreciate it. | ||
| Great job. | ||
| Great job. | ||
| Absolutely. | ||
| Thanks to Steve. | ||
| Appreciate it. | ||
| Thanks for the long night. | ||
| We've got another week on the sheets. | ||
| Yeah, on this bill to try to. | ||
| C-SPAN's Washington Journal, our live forum inviting you to discuss the latest issues in government politics and public policy from Washington to across the country. | ||
| Coming up Friday morning, Sarah Chifo of the League of Conservation Voters on how clean energy initiatives enacted in the Biden administration could be changed if Republicans pass their 2026 budget bill. | ||
| Then the Federation for American Immigration Reforms Julie Kirchner on the GOP budget bill's provisions related to immigration and border security enforcement. | ||
| C-SPAN's Washington Journal. | ||
| Join the conversation live at 7 Eastern Friday morning on C-SPAN, C-SPAN now, our free mobile video app, or online at c-SPAN.org. | ||
| This show and C-SPAN is one of the few places left in America where you actually have left and right coming together to talk and argue. | ||
| And you guys do a great service in that. | ||
| I love C-SPAN too. | ||
| That's why I'm here today. | ||
| Answer questions all day, every day. | ||
| Sometimes I get to do fun things like go on C-SPAN. | ||
| C-SPAN is, I think, one of the very few places that Americans can still go. | ||
|
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C-SPAN has such a distinguished and honorable and important mandate and mission in this country. | |
| I love this show. | ||
| This is my favorite show to do of all shows because I actually get to hear what the American people care about. | ||
| American people have access to their government in ways that they did not before the cable industry provided C-SPAN access. | ||
| That's why I like to come on C-SPAN is because this is one of the last places where people are actually having conversations, even people who disagree. | ||
| Shows that you can have a television network that can try to be objective. | ||
| Thank C-SPAN for all you do. | ||
| It's one of the reasons why this program is so valuable because it does bring people together where dissenting voices are heard, where hard questions are asked, and where people have to answer to them. | ||
| American History TV, Saturdays on C-SPAN 2, exploring the people and events that tell the American story. | ||
| This weekend, at 4:45 p.m. Eastern, hear from Vietnam and Afghanistan Medal of Honor recipients Dwight Birdwell and Clinton Romaschet about their wartime experiences after receiving the nation's highest military award for valor. | ||
| And then at 8 p.m. Eastern on Lectures in History, Hillsdale College history professor Mark Moyer explores the various schools of thought on the Vietnam War, focusing on debates over the war's necessity and whether the United States could have achieved victory. | ||
| At 9 p.m. Eastern on Real America, watch a 1960 Federal Emergency Management Agency film on how to build a fallout shelter in your home. | ||
| It was produced with the National Concrete Masonry Association and was originally titled Walt Builds a Family Fallout Shelter. | ||
| And at 11:45 p.m. Eastern, House Speaker Mike Johnson presents the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest civilian honor, to the 6th 888th Women's Army Corps Battalion for their contributions during World War II. | ||
| Known as the 6th Triple Eight, they were the first all-female, all-black unit to serve overseas, sorting male in Europe. | ||
| Exploring the American story. | ||
| Watch American History TV Saturdays on C-SPAN 2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org slash history. | ||
| Sunday on C-SPAN's Q&A, travel writer Rick Steves talks about his 1978 journey along the Hippie Trail and the 60,000-word journal he kept of the trip, which he recently published as a book. | ||
| During the 3,000-mile trek, the then 23-year-old Steves and a friend visited Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nepal. | ||
| He recalls the people he met along the way, the challenges of traveling in foreign countries in the 1970s, and the lifelong impact the trip had on him. | ||
| It's fun to look back on it with the help of the journal and see how naive and green and uneducated I was. | ||
| But it's the growing pains of a global perspective, of gaining a global perspective. | ||
| And I've got this notion that culture shock is a good thing. | ||
| A lot of people try to avoid culture shock. | ||
| To me, culture shock is constructive. | ||
| It's the growing pains of a broadening perspective. | ||
|
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Rick Steves, with his book On the Hippie Trail, Sunday night at 8 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN's QA. | |
| You can listen to Q&A wherever you get your podcasts and on the C-SPAN Now app. | ||
| House Republican leaders spoke to the press following the passage of their budget, spending and policy bill, saying it was a great win for Republican policy priorities and President Trump's agenda. | ||
| From Capitol Hill, this is about 40 minutes. | ||
| Thanks, everybody, for being here. | ||
| This is a big day. | ||
| We sit on the House floor, it's finally morning in America again. | ||
| The media and the Democrats have consistently dismissed any possibility that House Republicans could get this done. | ||
| They did not believe that we could succeed in our mission to enact President Trump's America First Agenda. | ||
| But this is a big one, and once again, they have been proven wrong. | ||
| Today, the House has passed generational, truly nation-shaping legislation to reduce spending and permanently lower taxes for families and job creators, secure the border, unleash American energy dominance, restore peace through strength, and make government work more efficiently and effectively for all Americans. | ||
| House Democrats voted against all of that. | ||
| So everything that I just said, they voted the opposite. | ||
| Clearly proves they actually must want the largest tax increase in U.S. history on the American citizens. | ||
| They must want open borders. | ||
| They've proven that over and over. | ||
| They must want Medicaid for illegal immigrants. | ||
| We look forward to the Senate's timely consideration of this once-in-a-generation legislation. | ||
| We stand ready to continue our work together to deliver on the one big beautiful bill, as President Trump named it himself. | ||
| We're going to send that to his desk. | ||
| We're going to get it there by Independence Day on July 4th, and we are going to celebrate a new golden age in America. | ||
| Thank you for being here. | ||
| I will yield next to our leader, Steve Scalise. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| And as the Speaker said, it truly is morning in America again. | ||
| You know, when you think about all of the work that's gone into putting this bill together, it's one big, beautiful bill for a lot of reasons. | ||
| There are a lot of really important wins for the American people in this bill. | ||
| And we had 11 committees come together and meet in hearings. | ||
| Some went on over 24 hours. | ||
| Rules Committee went over 20 hours. | ||
| You had, you know, of course, the budget committee, Chairman Arrington is the lead author of the bill. | ||
| All of the people that had to come together in our conference, and I think a lot of you know we don't all think alike, Democrats made it very clear they didn't want to have any part in helping get America back on track again, but we were never deterred. | ||
| When this bill could have failed 10 times over, we said we were going to get this done and failure is not an option and we meant it. | ||
| We knew we were fighting for the families who have been struggling for way too long under the failed policies of Joe Biden and all the Democrats who did have control of Washington for too long. | ||
| We watched higher interest rates and higher inflation and lower wages and a demise of the American dream that we knew should not be permanent but was only going to turn around if we passed a bill to get America back on track. | ||
| We knew we had to prevent a massive tax increase, so we put it in the bill. | ||
| We knew we needed to secure America's border as President Trump ran on all across this country and won the election on, and we put it in this bill. | ||
| We ran on and said we would produce more American energy and we put it in this bill. | ||
| All the things that we knew we needed to do to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in government, focus on those families who are struggling. | ||
| All of that is in this one big, beautiful bill. | ||
| And yes, now the House has come together and passed this bill against all odds, but we're still working on the rest of the process. | ||
| Still goes to the Senate. | ||
| Senate has a lot of work to do too. | ||
| That's why we've been talking to the Senate for a long time, but it's their turn to take this bill and move forward. | ||
| But I'll tell you, none of this would be possible without the leadership of President Trump, who every step of the way not only laid out the vision, ran a campaign on this vision, but every step of the way too said, whatever you need, let me know. | ||
| And he was there to help us. | ||
| Our great speaker, Mike Johnson, who was never deterred, probably hasn't slept in a few days, but never wavered in his commitment to get this done. | ||
| And this whole team has come together. | ||
| And our WIP has never relented and never stopped pushing to get this done. | ||
| With that, I bring up our great majority whip, Tom Emmer. | ||
| Thank you, Steve. | ||
| On November 5th, the American people rejected the failed policies of the Biden-Harris administration and overwhelmingly endorsed President Trump's America First Agenda. | ||
| Using his executive authority, President Trump hit the ground running on day one to deliver on the promises he made to the American people. | ||
|
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Today, House Republicans followed suit. | |
| Our one big beautiful bill fulfills the mandate for change we were given last November. | ||
|
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It allows President Trump to continue his successful border security and deportation operations by investing in more border patrol agents and ICE officers, funding the continuation of the border wall, and equipping our men and women on the front lines with the tools they need to keep us safe. | |
| Not only will the one big beautiful bill help to make America safe again, it will also help to make America wealthy again. | ||
| America's economic revival has already begun under President Trump's leadership, but House Republicans back it up in this bill by making the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent, eliminating tax on tips and overtime, and throwing out regulations that burden American businesses and suffocate American innovation. | ||
|
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From promoting the safety and security of our great nation and giving much-needed tax relief to American families, to unleashing American energy and bringing accountability to important government programs, there are wins in this bill for every corner of America. | |
| Take this as a lesson: don't bet against the House Republicans. | ||
| We've shown time and time again that we deliver for the American people, especially when it matters most. | ||
| By taking hold of this historic opportunity, I truly believe we've unlocked the opportunities for generations to come. | ||
|
unidentified
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With that, I turn it over to our conference chair, Lisa McLaren. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Well, good morning, everybody, and a good morning it is. | ||
| We just made history and passed the one big beautiful bill, despite the Democrats' fear-mongering. | ||
| Shocker, we haven't seen that lately, have we? | ||
| And the hours that they spent stalling the votes on this entire process. | ||
| The Democrats tried to derail this bill, and guess what? | ||
|
unidentified
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It didn't work. | |
| They failed. | ||
| Not only did the Democrats vote against the bill, but they introduced hundreds of meaningless amendments, spewed misleading talking points, and now they have nothing to show for it except voting on the record for the historic tax increase and to kill jobs of the small and medium-class business owners in America. | ||
| Frankly, Democrats voted to put Americans last, and it's a shame. | ||
| But thank God for House Republicans and thank God for our President, Donald J. Trump. | ||
| His vision, alongside the work of my colleagues, made today a historic day. | ||
| Behind me is what you see, a unified Republican conference with phenomenal leadership. | ||
| And this Republican conference works as a team. | ||
| This transformational legislation will provide safety and security for generations to come. | ||
| Whether it's at our borders or in our pocketbooks, Americans will be better off thanks to the one big, beautiful bill. | ||
|
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Our committees had difficult tasks and they delivered. | |
| And some doubted that this was even possible. | ||
| But at the end of the day, we all came together. | ||
|
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House Republicans did not miss the moment. |