Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and other congressional Democrats are introducing legislation on Wednesday that would restrict contributions to presidential libraries.The bill, the Presidential Library Anti-Corruption Act, comes after Donald Trump‘s settlements with Paramount Global and Disney to settle his lawsuits, each for $16 million. The lion’s share of the money from those settlement was directed to the president’s future library.Trump also accepted a jet from Qatar that is being overhauled for use as Air Force One. He said that the 747 is a gift to the Department of Defense, but will later be decommissioned and go to his presidential library.In a press call, Warren said that she estimated that Trump has drawn at least $63 million in contributions to his presidential library from tech firms and other corporations. She also noted the $400 million value of the Qatari jet.“Trump files a bogus lawsuit against Paramount-owned CBS,” Warren said. “Paramount needs something from Trump, in this case approval for a multi-million dollar merger with Skydance. So what happens next? Paramount dumps $16 million into Trump’s library to settle a bogus lawsuit. Well, it looks like bribery right out in the open.”A Paramount Global spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In announcing the settlement, the company said that it was “completely separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process.”A White House spokesperson, Harrison Fields, said in a statement, “Democrats are losing their minds over the fact that corporate America has abandoned DEI and woke policies, embracing President Trump’s commonsense, America First policies that better serve America, its industries, and its workers. Democrats continue to reach new lows, with their protests against library contributions topping the list.”The Presidential Library Anti-Corruption Act would require that presidents wait until after they leave office before fundraising or accepting donations. The exception would be 501(c)3 organizations, which could still donate, but they would be limited to a total of $10,000.Another provision would prohibit contributions from foreign nationals, lobbyists, contractors, and individuals seeking pardons for two years after a president leaves office. It also would prohibt the conversion of library donations to personal use, mandate quarterly disclosure and prohibit straw donations.Warren is joined by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) in sponsoring the bill.Blumenthal called the legislation “long overdue, and we really need to implement … this set of guardrails because the stakes are only going to grow.”In the press call, Stansbury noted that Trump’s acceptance of the Qatari plane mirrored “one of the key plot devices in House of Cards.” “So it does lead one to wonder if Mr. Donald Trump is getting his idea for corruption from TV shows,” she said.With GOP control of Congress, it’s chances of advancing are a long shot. But it’s an indication of the areas that Democrats may scrutinize should they win back control of either chamber in next year’s midterms.“It’s important to introduce bills like this, partly to show what the problem is, partly to show that there’s an obvious solution, and partly to push the Republicans to explain why they don’t support a bill like this,” Warren said.Moskowitz called presidential library contributions “a black box for anonymous donors.” He said that he introduced similar legislation in the last Congress that drew bipartisan support. This time around, he said, there are “no Republicans I am aware of” who want to sign on as sponsors. The House has previously passed legislation to boost disclosure of presidential library donors, but the measures did not advance in the Senate.Blumenthal said that there were not yet GOP backers in the Senate, but “I think Republicans have demonstrated absolutely no backbone at all, or in any way sponsoring legislation that could be interpreted, in the most expansive way, as implying the slightest degree of criticism of Donald Trump.”
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