Democrats pledge to expose ‘absolute avalanche of corruption’ under Donald Trump

{"text":[[{"start":8.219,"text":"One of the Democrats poised to lead US congressional investigations into Donald Trump has vowed to expose an “avalanche of corruption” but warned his party not to be distracted by efforts to impeach the president again."}],[{"start":21.84,"text":"Jamie Raskin, the Maryland Democrat expected to chair the US House judiciary committee in the next Congress, told the FT that his “overriding priority” would be to restore the “rule of law and constitutional government” as it launches probes into the Trump administration next year."}],[{"start":38.08,"text":"“We’re looking at the systemic corruption that has taken place, how it came about, who’s involved in it, and then what we need to do legislatively or constitutionally to prevent such a nightmare from ever happening again,” he said."}],[{"start":50.016,"text":"“We’ve seen the most breathtaking and outrageous conflicts of interest pervade the Trump administration, beginning at the top.”"}],[{"start":58.09,"text":"But Raskin was clear that pursuing a third impeachment of the president could be a “distraction from public and legislative understanding of the rip-off schemes and fraud” he alleged had “overtaken” the administration."}],[{"start":68.8,"text":"Raskin’s comments came a week after his party won control of Congress in a midterm landslide seen as a rebuke of Trump’s agenda and signalled a confrontation that will dominate Washington in the coming months."}],[{"start":81.523,"text":"Polling ahead of the election showed corruption was a top concern for voters alongside the cost of living and the US war in Iran. Trump and his allies have repeatedly rejected accusations of self-dealing since he returned to office."}],[{"start":95.804,"text":"In a preview of the fight between Trump and a Democratic-led Congress, White House counsel Will Scharf on Wednesday told Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, that a “process designed merely to abuse or instil fear in the recipient may cross the line into blatant criminality”."}],[{"start":113.685,"text":"Garcia responded in a statement: “It appears Donald Trump has something to hide.”"}],[{"start":116.56,"text":"House Democrats impeached Trump twice during his first term, but Raskin told the FT a third effort would only satisfy Republicans by acting as a “distraction” from the wider investigations Congress should undertake."}],[{"start":131.189,"text":"“There’s a way in which impeachment becomes a drape over all of the corruption, and that’s why they’re begging us to impeach him,” Raskin said of Republicans."}],[{"start":139.763,"text":"He told the FT that Democrats would target alleged “networks of corruption”, including Trump allies who had received presidential pardons, Trump-connected companies that had been exempted from tariffs and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency."}],[{"start":154.724,"text":"Raskin suggested he could probe 1789 Capital, Donald Trump Jr’s venture capital firm, which the Democrat said had earned huge returns due to the president’s son’s “apparently clairvoyant powers into discerning which companies are going to get government contracts”."}],[{"start":171.356,"text":"1789 Capital’s lawyers at Quinn Emanuel have written to Raskin saying the Congress member is peddling a “misguided narrative”, that the firm was “proud to invest” in American workers and had “no intention of being held hostage to political gamesmanship”."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":185.972,"text":"But Raskin alleged that the grift was so pervasive he struggled to name his top target."}],[{"start":191.874,"text":"“We are facing an absolute avalanche of corruption and fraud throughout the Trump administration,” he said. “So when you ask me to give you the priorities or the first hearings or whatever, we can’t answer it because we’re still trying to sort out this catastrophe.”"}],[{"start":207.68,"text":"White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said Trump was “willing to work with anyone to continue delivering victories for hardworking Americans”. She added: “If Democrats choose to pursue sham investigations and radical left policies, they are choosing to work against the American people.”"}],[{"start":223.36,"text":"Trump has disclosed that he earned more than $2bn in 2025, the first year of his second term, including more than $1bn from crypto companies his sons founded. The FT and other publications have reported on contracts and other business opportunities secured by Trump family members since he returned to office."}],[{"start":242.8,"text":"“Other presidents had taken money that they had when they started office and put it into a blind trust,” said Raskin. “Donald Trump is in business right now . . . It’s like watching The Sopranos. What is the grift and the graft of the day?”"}],[{"start":252.72,"text":"​Raskin also took aim at the diplomatic role of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in the Iran war while leading a private equity firm backed by sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East, saying it appeared to be an “outrageous conflict of interest”."}],[{"start":267.44,"text":"“He’s never been able to answer us whether he was acting 100 per cent in the interest of his business clients in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar, or he was acting 100 per cent in the interest of the American people, or was it 50-50, or somewhere in between?”"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":282.369,"text":"Olivia Wales, a White House spokesperson, said Kushner’s personal business had “nothing to do” with his diplomacy, which was conducted “on a volunteer basis at the president’s request”."}],[{"start":292.855,"text":"Kushner said in a statement that he had “never taken a diplomatic action to benefit Affinity, myself, or any investor”, referring to his private equity firm, and said “no one had ever identified a single American position I changed, government favour I sought, or diplomatic decision I made” to benefit himself, his fund or investors. He said his diplomacy was “solely in furtherance of America’s interests”."}],[{"start":318.8,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1794447258_6041.mp3"}