United States Senate Democrats

09/15/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/15/2026 12:00

Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Trump Family’s Shameless Corruption Posing A Threat To Our National Security

Washington D.C.- Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke on the Senate floor to condemn President Trump and his family for allowing a Russian oligarch with close ties with Vladimir Putin to pay for his wedding. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks, which can also be viewed here:

On the same day Trump decided to put pressure on Ukraine rather than Russia by blaming Ukraine - not his disastrous Iran war - for high gas prices, we continue to see evidence that the Trump family is in Putin's pocket.

It came out yesterday that a Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin footed the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars in wedding expenses for Donald Trump Jr. Can you believe this? An oligarch of a country we oppose is paying for the wedding of the president's son. Have you ever heard anything like this? So corrupt, so venal, so endangering our national security? How can you, across the aisle, shrug your shoulders at this kind of outrageous, damaging, destructive behavior?

What did Donald Trump Jr. say in his defense? "Sometimes a wedding gift is simply a wedding gift." Not in this case, baby. You're dealing with a Russian oligarch, not just a cousin who's giving you a gift.

Well, I say to Donald Jr. who said, "sometimes a wedding gift is simply a wedding gift," sometimes a wedding gift is a bribe from a foreign autocrat.

The oligarch dropped hundreds of thousands to put on a fireworks display, host an extravagant party, and rent out a private island for Donald Jr., but what we know what he was really buying was not to have a good time at a wedding, but access to the Trump family.

The corruption could not get any more shameless.

The Trump family has already profited four billion dollars off the presidency this term alone. Did the Trumps really need a few hundred thousand more dollars? Is that what it takes for them to sell out America to the Russians?

The American people have had enough of Trump's corruption. Have Senate Republicans?

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