Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that President Donald Trump was attempting to seize control of power for “corrupt purposes.”
Partial transcript as follows:
RADDATZ: You have used incredibly strong language. A Constitutional crisis. Grossly unconstitutional. Pretty alarming language.
MURPHY: Yes, listen, I think this is the most serious Constitutional crisis the country has faced, certainly, since Watergate. The president is attempting to seize control of power and for corrupt purposes. The president wants to be able to decide how and where money is spent so that he can reward his political friends, he can punish his political enemies. That is the evisceration of democracy.
You stand that next to the wholesale endorsement of political violence with the pardons given to every single January 6th rioter, including the most violent who beat police officers over the head with baseball bats, and you can see what he’s trying to do here. He is trying to crush his opposition by making them afraid of losing federal funding, by making them afraid of physical violence. And so, yes, this is a red alert moment when this entire country has to understand that our democracy is at risk. And for what? The billionaire takeover of government. I’m sure we’ll talk about this, but Elon Musk is inside our federal agencies attempting to steal our money.
RADDATZ: But – but let me just say right now, they – they want to cut the federal budget. They would all – all disagree that it’s corruption or anything else. They want to cut the federal budget and the workforce. Do you have issues with that?
MURPHY: Well, I don’t, but there is no evidence that that is the goal ultimately. At USAID, they sent a whole bunch of people home who are still getting paid. And I think you have to ask, why are they doing this if it’s not actually accruing any savings? And to me, again, the reason is that somebody like Elon Musk stands to gain from the closure of USAID. It makes America much less safe around the world, but it helps China. The USAID is a thorn in the side of the Chinese government. Elon Musk has many major business interests at stake inside Beijing. And so making Beijing happy is going to accrue to the financial benefit of Elon Musk and many billionaires who outsource work to China.
RADDATZ: Senator, you have the court process working. A judge has now barred Elon Musk team’s from the Treasury database. They have blocked Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order. So, why not just let the system work?
MURPHY: Well, I mean, first of all, we – we’re not sure it’s working right now. I continue to get reports from Connecticut that agencies there, like Head Start programs and community health centers are actually not receiving the funding that they are due. So, I think there’s a big question as to whether the administration actually is implementing the court order. And the pace of this assault on the Constitution in order to serve the billionaire class, it is absolutely dizzying.
And so, you have to run a full-scale opposition. You can’t just rely on the courts. Ultimately, you’ve got to bring the American public into this conversation because we need our Republican colleagues in the House and in the Senate ultimately to put a stop to this. You cannot just rely on the court system when the challenge to the Constitution and the billionaire takeover is so acute and so urgent.
Follow Pam Key on X @pamkeyNEN
