[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 7, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H1904-H1906]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            GROSS VIOLATIONS OF LAW BY TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

  (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Min of 
California was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the 
minority leader.)


                             General Leave

  Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material into the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Baumgartner). Is there objection to the 
request of the gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, we just heard all day from Republicans on the 
other side of the aisle that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is going to lead 
to helping small businesses and reducing the deficit. Yet, what we just 
missed in all of this discussion was any discussion of the T-word, and 
I am not talking about Trump here. I am talking about tariffs.
  In fact, when I talk to the small businesses in my district, that is 
the number one, number two, and number three concerns that they have.
  When Members talk about the deficits and the jobs creation that the 
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are supposed to have, note that this is going to 
add $7 trillion to our national debt. It will blow up our deficit. In 
fact, Donald Trump is responsible for roughly 40 percent of the 
national debt just in the 4 years in which he was in office.
  He oversaw, of course, the worst jobs record of any President since 
Herbert Hoover.
  That is right. He oversaw the worst jobs growth of any President 
since the Great Depression.
  It now looks like he is doubling down on those failed policies, and 
congressional Republicans are looking to support those efforts and 
potentially take us into the Great Depression 2.0, as economist after 
economist has warned us.
  Mr. Speaker, that is not what I am here to talk about today. I rise 
today to speak about the Trump administration's egregious Hatch Act 
violations and also Congress' failure to hold Donald Trump and his 
administration accountable for these gross violations of law.
  That is, of course, a theme that we have seen. Trump has bent and 
broken the law and key provisions of the Constitution over and over. 
Yet, this body, which, as any kid knows, is supposed to be a coequal 
branch of government to the President, to the executive branch, has 
rolled over and played dead rather than holding anybody accountable.
  Today, we heard another oversight hearing about something that people 
in my district just don't care about: trans athletes who are fencing in 
different types of competitive atmospheres. That may be something for 
local sporting bodies to take up. It is not something that is pressing 
to my constituents. It is not pressing in the way that the corruption, 
the lawlessness, the tariffs, or so many other things are.
  The Hatch Act, I think, embodies the problems that we are seeing 
right now with just the sheer criminality and lawlessness of this 
administration and the failure of Congress--again, a coequal branch of 
government--in standing up for itself. We have an hour for this Special 
Order, but we would need much more time to talk about all of the Hatch 
Act violations made by members of the Trump administration.
  Mr. Speaker, this is important to me because, as someone who has 
spent my career trying to uphold the rule of law, I turned down Wall 
Street to begin my career at the Securities and Exchange Commission to 
crack down on corporate fraud, exactly the type that Donald Trump and 
many of his allies are committing right now, such as securities fraud, 
corporate fraud, and the like.
  When I was a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, I 
spent my career trying to uphold law enforcement and the rule of law, 
and right now we are just seeing a level of sheer criminality and 
lawlessness that is unprecedented in history. What is happening right 
now makes the Teapot Dome scandal and all of these scandals we read 
about in history look like penny-ante stuff.
  The Trump administration is doing everything it can right now to 
allow for people to violate the Hatch Act. I emphasize the Hatch Act 
was a series of laws passed by Congress to prevent senior officials in 
the administration from abusing their official executive branch 
positions to campaign and to engage in politics.
  Of course, the Trump administration issued an executive order 
essentially undoing many of the provisions of the Hatch Act, allowing 
members of the administration to use their official offices to campaign 
for Donald Trump and Republicans, something that is totally outrageous, 
something that is totally in defiance of the Hatch Act.
  Again, this is a law that we passed in Congress, and, no, the 
President does not get to make law by executive order. This President 
has issued more executive orders than the last approximately 10 
Presidents combined already, and we are only 3\1/2\ months into his 
Presidency. Executive orders do not rewrite laws that we pass.
  I remind my colleagues of something that my kids learned in third 
grade: Article I of the Constitution gives Congress and only Congress 
the authority to create laws, to enact laws. The President does not get 
to rewrite laws that we passed, including the Hatch Act, by just having 
his lawyers come up with some nonsense and calling it an executive 
order. Yet, that is what we have seen done here.
  The administration has also directed the Office of Special Counsel to 
refer Hatch Act violations by White House-commissioned officers 
directly to the President for disciplinary action, rather than the 
Independent Merit Systems Protections Board.
  What he is basically saying is to send those to the White House. If 
Members expect this White House to enforce any violations of law 
committed by a Trump supporter, my colleagues haven't been following 
the news at all. Of course, this White House, this President, from the 
very beginning, when he pardoned all of the January 6 felons, including 
people who had assaulted police officers, he was, again, showing his 
contempt for the rule of law. If we rely on the White House to enforce 
the law, we have another thing coming.

  Mr. Speaker, this is good news for people like Commerce Secretary 
Howard Lutnick, who told viewers during a FOX News interview in March 
that they could buy Tesla stock, that they should buy Tesla stock, 
again, violating his position, abusing his position, going on national 
television to promote a stock aligned with Donald Trump's interests.
  It also looks to be great news for people like Lynne Patton, who is 
returning to work for President Trump this week after finishing up a 2-
month suspension from Federal service after she improperly used her 
position with the Department of Housing and Urban Development for 
political purposes during President Trump's first term.
  It is also good news for all of the White House employees who helped 
set

[[Page H1905]]

up that shameless display where Trump and his White House essentially 
turned the White House lawn into a Tesla dealership, promoting Tesla.
  Where is the rule of law? Where is the concern for enforcement of the 
rule of law? I know a lot of my colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle profess to care a lot about crime. Yet, we have seen them turn a 
blind eye over and over to the many, many acts of criminality committed 
by this administration.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Garcia), 
my colleague from Long Beach, the former mayor of Long Beach, and the 
best-looking politician out of Long Beach.
  Mr. GARCIA of California. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Congressman for 
yielding. I appreciate the gentleman having this opportunity for us to 
speak.
  Mr. Speaker, we all know that the Hatch Act is here to keep partisan 
politics out of our government. It has been in place to over 80 years, 
and I rise today to make sure that our government serves every single 
American.
  Mr. Speaker, we know that the Hatch Act protects public service from 
being used for political gain. It means you can't use a government 
office to help a political campaign or promote a candidate.
  I was mayor of Long Beach for 8 years, 2 terms, and I knew it didn't 
matter how my constituents voted. We had to serve them all equally. We 
had to put our community above politics.
  Mr. Speaker, here in Washington, the Hatch Act was written to keep 
trust in our government strong. It helps to make sure public officials 
stay focused on the job that we were elected or hired to do and not on 
personal or political goals.
  Yet, Donald Trump, of course, thinks he is above the law. We have 
seen President Trump and Elon Musk try to pressure government workers 
to do their bidding and to help themselves personally and politically.
  In his first term, Donald Trump profited from his hotels in violation 
of the Constitution. Yet, now, his conduct is even more extreme. Just 
days before his inauguration, Trump launched a meme coin. Buyers can 
now funnel money directly into Donald Trump's pockets, and it is 
happening.
  We know that he actually offered the top buyers of this coin a 
private dinner at his golf club. He is basically selling access to the 
Presidency for cash.
  We also saw Donald Trump fire someone whose job was actually to look 
into and punish Hatch Act violations. By doing that, he removed someone 
whose job was to hold rulebreakers like himself accountable. It is 
clear that he doesn't care about anything but himself, and he is 
putting his MAGA politics ahead of the law. The American people deserve 
better than this.
  Mr. Speaker, that is why I have introduced the Hatch Act Enforcement 
Transparency and Accountability Act earlier this year. This bill will 
make sure that we know when the executive branch chooses not to 
investigate a Hatch Act violation. It requires full transparency so 
that we can see exactly how and why those decisions are being made.
  If the Trump administration or anyone else in power refuses to 
investigate a clear violation, we will know why, and we will demand 
accountability. We can't let powerful people break the rules--not 
Donald Trump, not Donald Trump's family, not Elon Musk, not anyone.
  The Hatch Act was made to keep things fair and honest in government. 
It is a simple rule that protects all of us. We can't let anyone ignore 
it. By properly enforcing the Hatch Act, we are not just saying that we 
want to protect our democracy. We are actually doing it.
  This protects our government workers, our agencies, and our whole 
country. There have been extreme violations of the Hatch Act by the 
Donald Trump Presidency, not just this time in this term, but also in 
the first term.
  We saw how they abused the office for real estate deals outside of 
government. We saw how foreign governments flowed and sent money to his 
family when they left the White House. Donald Trump, today, by the use 
of the meme coin and other means, is profiting off our government. We 
need to ensure that our government is working openly and fairly for 
everyone, not just for those with a political agenda.

                              {time}  1900

  Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, I echo the comments just made by Mr. Garcia. We 
are roughly 3\1/2\ months into Trump's second term, but it looks to be 
shaping up like a more extreme and more radical version of the first 
term, where the Office of Special Counsel identified over 12 different 
members of President Trump's administration as having violated the 
Hatch Act.
  As a refresher, Kellyanne Conway promoted Ivanka Trump's clothing 
line in the last Trump administration. Stephanie Grisham, Nikki Haley, 
and Dan Scavino engaged in political activity on their government 
social media accounts. Former Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue 
unlawfully promoted President Trump's 2020 reelection campaign.
  I will say that the acquiescence of Congress at that time, the 
failure to hold Donald Trump accountable for those abuses, those 
violations of the rule of law, has led Donald Trump to be even more 
bold and aggressive in violating the law this time around.
  At this point, I think this is very clearly the most corrupt 
administration in history. Already, we have seen them engage in 
breathtaking actions that are unprecedented, all of which have created 
constitutional crises. They fired over 17 inspectors general to start 
the term. They issued a mass pardon of those convicted of assaulting 
our government, including police officers, on January 6. They went 
after the FBI and tried to fire anybody who was seen as insufficiently 
loyal to Donald Trump at the FBI. They did the same thing at the 
Department of Justice. They looked to illegally usurp our Article I 
powers by firing thousands of government employees, redirecting funding 
that we had appropriated here in Congress, violating the Impoundment 
Control Act, and trying to rewrite laws by shuttering agencies through 
executive action that Congress had created.
  As a reminder, Congress and only Congress, under Article I--this is 
something that the Founders in their great wisdom decided was 
important, the separation of powers, something we all learn early on. 
Apparently, not too many of my colleagues on the other side have 
incorporated this message: Congress and only Congress has the authority 
to pass laws and to appropriate funds. That is exactly what they are 
trying to take away from us.
  We have seen this time after time. Now, it is with the illegal sweeps 
of immigrants, including immigrants who are here on travel visas, 
leading to a stark drop in tourism, and the possibly illegal usurpation 
of our taxation authority by an unprecedented series of tariff 
announcements.
  A great gauge of how corrupt things are right now is by seeing how 
much litigation has already proceeded against the Trump administration. 
We have seen over 220 lawsuits brought against them in their first 100 
days. That is clearly a record.
  It is also a record of how many of them they have lost already, how 
many motions they have lost, how many motions have been filed against 
them that they have lost in court.
  In response, rather than trying to adhere to the rule of law, the 
Trump administration, again, exhibiting its utter contempt for the rule 
of law, has gone after members of the judiciary.
  At this point, there are not a lot of guardrails left. They have gone 
after the IGs. They have weaponized the Department of Justice. They 
have weaponized the FBI.
  There are the courts, and there is Congress. Unfortunately, Congress, 
with the majority on the other side of the aisle, has decided to roll 
over and play dead and be Donald Trump's lapdog rather than enforcing 
our constitutionally mandated duties.
  When we take office, you may remember that we all swear an oath to 
defend and support the Constitution of the United States. That means 
regardless of what party affiliation you have or what party affiliation 
the President has, regardless of what threats the President or Elon 
Musk may make against you, we swear to a higher power to take that 
oath, to support and defend the Constitution. Right now, that is not 
happening with Congress, and Donald Trump and his minions have become 
emboldened to attack the courts.

[[Page H1906]]

  I have attempted to bring light to these issues through my membership 
on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, as well as 
part of the rapid response team that our leadership has set up.
  For example, I have sent letters to the law firms that acquiesced to 
the Trump administration and the Florida bar for the apparently 
unscrupulous ethical behavior of Attorney General Bondi.
  We have seen them go after higher education. We need to stand up and 
fight back right now. Donald Trump has weaponized the Federal 
Government to go after Columbia, for example, based on what appears to 
be a personal vendetta over a real estate deal that didn't happen like 
30 years ago.
  As my colleague from Long Beach mentioned earlier, another outrageous 
example we have seen is the Trump crypto meme coin, which President 
Trump is using to profit personally from the Presidency. We just saw a 
couple of weeks ago that an Abu Dhabi firm had invested $2 billion into 
the coin, directly enriching the President. He is going to celebrate 
this by holding a meme coin gala dinner this month for the top holders 
of his coin.
  The level of corruption right now is breathtaking. It is 
unprecedented. Unfortunately, he is not going to stop because Congress 
is not stepping up to enforce our rights. We are not stepping up to do 
the oversight that is required of us.
  As the Romans used to say, who watches the watchmen? When there are 
no guardrails in place, who watches the watchmen? Unfortunately, right 
now, Congress, which is supposed to act as a coequal branch of 
government, is failing to uphold its duties.

  Mr. Speaker, I note that this is unprecedented in its corruption. We 
will continue to see violations of the Hatch Act. We will continue to 
see a failure of enforcement of the rule of law, but I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Barrett). Members are reminded to 
refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President.

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