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jamie raskin
Senate GOP Blocks Schumer Bill After Pentagon Accepts Qatari Jet for Trump
"It's a bribe. It's a national security threat," the Senate minority leader said. "But Republicans stood with Trump and blocked my bill."
May 21, 2025
Just hours after the Pentagon formally accepted a luxury jet for U.S. President Donald Trump from Qatar, Senate Republicans thwarted Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's attempt to pass by unanimous consent legislation intended to prevent a foreign plane from serving as Air Force One.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) blocked Schumer's (D-N.Y.) Presidential Airlift Security Act, which the Democratic leader had announced on Tuesday—along with vowing to continue a "hold on all political Department of Justice nominees until we get more answers about this clearly unethical deal."
The jet is "the largest foreign gift to an American president in modern history, one Donald Trump says will go to his presidential library after his term," Schumer said on the Senate floor Wednesday. "This gift is outrageous. Donald Trump will berate companies to ' eat his tariffs' and tell parents to pay more for groceries, but is accepting a luxury plane he can use as Air Force One."
"This gift screams national security risk. It is bribery in broad daylight. Donald Trump is thumbing his nose at Republicans and practically daring them to stop him. Well, today, the Senate can," he said, just before Marshall blocked the bill's passage. "Donald Trump accepting this gift reeks of corruption and naked self-enrichment, and Republicans should stand up and support my bill, defend national security, and protect Americans."
The legislation would have prohibited "even a single taxpayer dollar from being used by the Department of Defense to procure, modify, retrofit, or maintain any foreign aircraft for the purposes of transporting a U.S. president," the senator said.
Schumer's remarks followed the chief Pentagon spokesperson, Sean Parnell, confirming receipt of the plane in a Wednesday statement.
"The secretary of defense has accepted a Boeing 747 from Qatar in accordance with all federal rules and regulations," Parnell said. "The Department of Defense will work to ensure proper security measures and functional-mission requirements are considered for an aircraft used to transport the president of the United States."
Asked about the Pentagon's statement by NBC News' Peter Alexander at the White House on Wednesday, Trump said: "You oughta get out of here. What does this have to do with the Qatari jet? They're giving the United States Air Force a jet, OK, and it's a great thing."
The gifted jet—valued at $ 200-400 million—has sparked widespread concerns, with critics calling Trump "grifter-in-chief" and condemning his plan to use taxpayer dollars to modify the plane so that it can serve as Air Force One, then transfer it to his library upon leaving office, as "indefensible," "incredibly illegal," and "comically corrupt."
According toThe New York Times:
Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, publicly said on Monday for the first time that his government had approved turning over the plane as a gift, rejecting the idea of it being an attempt to influence the president.
"I don't know why people, they are thinking," he said, before continuing: "This is considered as a bribery or considered as, something that Qatar wants to buy and influence with this administration. I don't see any, honestly, a valid reason for that."
He added: "We are a country that would like to have strong partnership and strong friendship, and anything that we provide to any country, it's provided out of respect for this partnership and it's a two-way relationship. It's mutually beneficial for Qatar and for the United States."
"It's a bribe. It's a national security threat," Schumer said on social media Wednesday evening. "But Republicans stood with Trump and blocked my bill. THAT'S NOT AMERICA FIRST."
Meanwhile, in the Republican-controlled lower chamber of Congress, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) expanded his probe into the Qatari plane, demanding answers from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, by June 4.
"Please provide all documents and communications related to the $400 million ultraluxury airplane, including any communications, agreements, or draft agreements with the state of Qatar, L3Harris, and the Palm Beach Airport as soon as possible," Raskin also wrote. "The information and documents you provide will help us determine whether the $400 million ultraluxury 'gift,' already suffering from insurmountable ethical, constitutional, and logistical problems, is the result of a campaign of illegal extortion by this administration."
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Critics Seize on Impending Walmart Price Hikes Due to Trump Tariffs
"If a retailer as big as Walmart can't escape the pain of tariffs, what chance does a small business have?" wrote the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
May 15, 2025
Democratic lawmakers and other voices are highlighting a Thursday announcement from Walmart that the world's largest retailer will have to raise prices on some items in response to tariffs in order to heap criticism on the Trump administration's tariffs regime.
"We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible. But given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren't able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins," said Walmart CEO Doug McMillon on a Thursday earnings call, according to CNN.
"The higher tariffs will result in higher prices," said McMillon. CNN reported that price increases will begin later this month.
"We knew this was coming," wrote Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), who said that U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs "will leave working families with the bill."
The Trump administration has imposed 10% global tariffs on all goods entering the United States and imposed higher tariffs on goods coming from China—though on Monday the two countries said they had reached a deal to lower the tariffs they had imposed on one another.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) used the Walmart news as a way to plug their recently introduced legislation, the Truth in Tariffs Act, which would require large retailers to display how much of an item's price stems from tariffs.
"These tariffs are just a tax hike on consumers," Schumer wrote on X on Thursday. "If a retailer as big as Walmart can't escape the pain of tariffs, what chance does a small business have? Their customers are inevitably going to see prices rise. Donald Trump's tariffs are nothing more than a tax hike on consumers."
The White House may not respond kindly to Walmart's announcement. Last month, after reports that Amazon would display tariff-based price increases next to the price of products online, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called such a move "a hostile and political act."
After a call between Trump and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, a company spokesperson said displays had been considered for only a section of the site but wouldn't be happening.
After Walmart's announcement, End Citizens United, a campaign finance reform group, wrote: "Everyday, it becomes more clear that his promise to lower costs was merely a lie he told voters on the campaign trail. He doesn't work for us. He works for himself and his deep-pocketed donors."
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'Authoritarianism in Action': Trump Orders DOJ Probe of Democratic Donation Platform ActBlue
Rep. Jamie Raskin called Trump's memorandum "the kind of edict you'd expect from a power-mad dictator in a Banana Republic."
Apr 25, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday launched his latest attack on political opponents by directing the Justice Department to investigate ActBlue, a critical fundraising platform for Democrats and progressive organizations.
The order came in the form of a memorandum that the president signed shortly before heading to his Virginia golf course for a $1 million-per-plate fundraiser for MAGA Inc., a pro-Trump super PAC that has been accused of receiving illegal straw-donor contributions.
In his memorandum, Trump raised "concerns" about straw donations—when a donor makes a contribution through another person or entity—and directed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to "investigate allegations regarding the unlawful use of online fundraising platforms to make 'straw' or 'dummy' contributions or foreign contributions to political candidates and committees, and to take all appropriate actions to enforce the law."
Trump's memorandum cites a recent report from House Republicans accusing ActBlue of "a lack of commitment to stopping fraud." ActBlue and House Democrats rejected the GOP findings at the time, calling the document "less of a report and more of a desperate effort to change the subject."
"This president, with his approval ratings underwater and sinking like a stone, is desperately seeking to undermine his political opposition by cutting off their access to funding."
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said Thursday that Trump's broadside against ActBlue marks a similar attempt to divert attention from the president's own corruption.
"Donald Trump pocketed millions of dollars in unlawful payments from foreign governments during his first term, his administration shut down a probe into whether his campaign received an illegal and urgent $10 million bribe from Egypt, and foreign nationals are spending millions on Trump-owned cryptocurrencies right now in apparent hopes of buying their way out of federal criminal investigations through undisclosed payments," Raskin said in a statement.
"The Trump administration has also systematically dismantled crime-fighting efforts at the Department of Justice aimed at foreign corruption of our politics and actually announced its indifference to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act," he continued. "So it's rich indeed for Americans to read now that Trump has launched a big initiative to 'crack down on foreign influence' in American politics with one purpose—crippling the fundraising platform of his political opponents."
"Today's presidential decree targeting the campaign infrastructure of the Democratic Party with precisely zero evidence of wrongdoing is the kind of edict you'd expect from a power-mad dictator in a Banana Republic. This president, with his approval ratings underwater and sinking like a stone, is desperately seeking to undermine his political opposition by cutting off their access to funding."
Since its inception in 2004, ActBlue has raised nearly $17 billion through its platform, and it is widely used by Democratic candidates and progressive groups, including organizations critical of the Democratic leadership such as Justice Democrats. (Common Dreams is among the organizations that use ActBlue to process donations.)
According to ActBlue, nearly 15 million Democratic donors have saved their payment information on the platform.
In a statement, ActBlue said that "today's escalation by the White House is blatantly unlawful and needs to be seen for what it is: Donald Trump's latest front in his campaign to stamp out all political, electoral, and ideological opposition."
"ActBlue will immediately pursue all legal avenues to protect and defend itself," the organization added.
Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, called Trump's investigation order "authoritarianism in action." In a joint statement, Martin and the heads of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Democratic Governors Association said that "Trump's memorandum targeting ActBlue is designed to undermine democratic participation—and it's no wonder why."
"He knows Americans are already fed up with his chaotic agenda that is driving the economy off a cliff, so he's trying to block lawful grassroots donations from supporters giving just $5 or $10 to candidates who oppose him while further empowering the corrupt billionaires who already control his administration," the Democratic leaders said. "As Democrats, we're unified in standing with the millions of Americans who are fighting back against Trump's dangerous abuses of power."
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