WASHINGTON–U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced on Thursday, during a Center for American Progress moderated discussion, that he is forcing a vote as early as next week on two joint resolutions of disapproval to block multi-billion dollar weapons sales to Qatar and the UAE. Murphy’s announcement comes in the wake of the two countries offering billions of dollars in luxury gifts and business deals to Trump, including a $400 million dollar luxury plane that he intends to keep for personal use. 

Murphy exposed the historic threat that Trump’s corrupt business dealings pose to U.S. foreign policy: “What happened in the Middle East with Qatar and UAE is history making. Never before has a president just made the decision to trade U.S. national security secrets or preferential U.S. policy for cash payments, and that's what he has done… There are, right now, two pending arms sales: one to Qatar, of predator drones, MQ-9s, and one of Chinook helicopters to the UAE.  Normally those might be deals that Congress would approve, but we cannot approve any security relationship today with countries in the Middle East that are engaged in the fundamental corruption of American foreign policy. The Trump administration is moving these sales forward as part of a broader scheme which enriches Donald Trump to the tune of billions of dollars.”

He continued: “Senators will have a chance to vote up or down on whether they want to normalize this corruption. I think it will be an important moment, at the very least for Democrats, to signal to the country that we are going to put up a protest over this kind of thievery and that we are not going to sit back [and] allow for business as normal to be conducted with countries that are paying Donald Trump money straight to his pocket, that we won't let this become normalized.”

Murphy highlighted what Qatar and the UAE hope to gain from these transactions with Trump and his family: “Both these countries want something in exchange. The Qataris want to not be left out any longer and to be closely aligned with the Trump administration in a way they weren't in the first term. The Emiratis want something very specific, which is our secrets. They want our highest technology: semiconductors that we generally are not willing to give countries like UAE, who have alliances with China. And it's a test moment for the country, and for the Senate, as to whether we are going to look the other way when it comes to this corruption.”

Murphy also discussed the role that cryptocurrency plays in Trump’s corrupt schemes and explained his opposition to the GENIUS Act as it is currently written: “We've got this bill on the floor of the Senate right now to regulate the crypto industry, and it has a specific exemption in it for one person, the President of the United States, to allow him to continue to market and issue the very stablecoin that he is using for his corruption in the Middle East. This is the stablecoin that the UAE gave him $2 billion for. The bill says, as a member of Congress, it is unethical for me to issue a stablecoin. The bill says it is okay for the President of the United States. [...] If you don't stop the corruption, if you don't stop the destruction of the democracy, the bills you pass are dead letter. Because the president is going to govern by decree, not by following the words on the page of the bill that you passed.”

Murphy filed these joint resolutions of disapproval last month. Click Here to Watch the Full Event.

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