Schumer Launches Senate Democratic Campaign To Kill Trump’s Nearly $2 Billion MAGA Slush Fund

After Killing Trump’s Taxpayer-Funded Ballroom Blitz, Senate Democrats Take On His Nearly $2 Billion MAGA Slush Fund

In A Dear Colleague, Schumer Announces Democrats Will Fight Every GOP Escape Hatch — No Fake Guardrails, No Backroom Promises, No Taxpayer-Funded Payoffs

Schumer: No More Hiding — Republicans Must Choose Taxpayers Or Trump’s Slush Fund

Washington, D.C. –Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) launched a coordinated Senate Democratic campaign to kill President Trump’s nearly $2 billion MAGA slush fund before one cent goes out the door. In a Dear Colleague letter, Schumer announces Democrats will use reconciliation, appropriations, floor action, and oversight to block taxpayer-funded Trump payoffs, reject every GOP escape hatch, and force Republicans on the record: stand with taxpayers, or stand with Trump’s slush fund.

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June 1, 2026

Dear Colleague:

As we return to Washington for this four-week session, the Trump presidency is exactly where it was when we left for Memorial Day: failing the American people on costs, consumed by corruption, and defined by chaos.

Families are paying more for groceries, gasoline, housing, and utilities. Americans are working harder, paying more, and getting less. And when President Trump was asked about the affordability crisis Americans are facing, he told the country where his priorities are: “I don’t think about that.”

He has made that painfully clear.

A Trump arch. A taxpayer-funded ballroom draped in gold. His face on buildings, currency, and coins. None of it lowers costs. None of it helps American families. But it occupies most of his time. All of it shows a president consumed by himself while Americans are left to pay the price.

But Trump’s nearly $2 billion MAGA slush fund is his most brazen act of self-dealing yet and one of the most corrupt schemes ever launched by a president. Senate Democrats will not let it stand.

This week, Senate Democrats will launch a coordinated effort to kill the slush fund before one cent goes out the door. And no matter what Republicans do, we will force them to vote.

If Republicans return to reconciliation, we will be ready with amendments to shut the fund down. If they try to bury the issue, we will force them to the Senate floor. If they try to sneak behind appropriations, we will fight them there too.

There will be no escape hatch. No fake guardrails or backroom promises to hide behind. No Justice Department announcement that makes this corruption acceptable.

The facts are as simple as they are damning: Trump sued his own government, and his own Justice Department helped turn that lawsuit into a nearly $2 billion slush fund with no real oversight — a taxpayer-funded payout machine that could benefit his political allies, personal pals, MAGA loyalists, January 6 insurrectionists who beat police officers, and ultimately, himself.

At the same time, Trump shielded himself, his family, and his businesses from ongoing tax inquiries for life, saving himself hundreds of millions in taxes owed to the American people.

This is corruption in broad daylight. It is self-dealing with a government seal. Donald Trump is turning the federal government into his own piggy bank.

Before recess, Senate Democrats killed Trump’s taxpayer-funded ballroom in the Byrd Bath. Now we are bringing the fight to his taxpayer-funded slush fund.

Republicans are scrambling for a way out — not to end the corruption, but to manage it. That will not be enough.

You do not fix a corrupt slush fund by promising to manage it better. You end it.

Recent court actions have only underscored how rotten this scheme is. But the courts will not be the only line of defense. Senate Democrats will demand that records are preserved, press for hearings, and seek answers from the Justice Department, the Treasury Department, and the White House about who requested this settlement, who approved it, who pressured officials to sign off, and who stands to benefit.

American families are paying more while Donald Trump tries to pay off his allies. They are getting squeezed while Republicans scramble to protect his corruption. They deserve a Senate that fights for them, protects their tax dollars, and refuses to let a nearly $2 billion MAGA slush fund fork over a single corrupt cent.

Democrats are forcing Republicans to make one simple choice: kill the slush fund or own it.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Schumer

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