ISSUES OF THE DAY

ISSUES OF THE DAY

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 42 (Thursday, March 5, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 42 (Thursday, March 5, 2026)] [House] [Pages H2455-H2459] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] {time} 1730 ISSUES OF THE DAY (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Green of Texas was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.) Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise. And still I rise. I rise today, Mr. Speaker, a liberated, unbought, unbossed, unafraid Democrat. I rise, Mr. Speaker, after having been censured but not silenced. Censured, but not silenced. Yes, I am that person who chooses to take on some of the great social injustices of our time. There are times when taking on these injustices necessitates that we take action right here in this Chamber. I am proud of the things that I have done to call to the attention not only of the Congress, not only of this country, but to the attention of the world some of the injustices taking place in my country. Quite frankly, it is the country that I love because of what it stands for in its great documents, liberty and justice for all, as told in the Pledge of Allegiance. Yes, I sometimes have to take difficult positions. When I do, I sometimes have to face difficult consequences, but I do so, and still I rise, Mr. Speaker. And still I rise. Today, Mr. Speaker, I rise to address corruption within the Trump administration, corruption within the Trump family, corruption within Trump politics. I want to show how this corruption is encroaching upon something that is very sacred in this institution. Let me start now, Mr. Speaker, with corruption within the Trump family. Mr. Speaker, I had the preeminent privilege of being a part of a hearing today in Financial Services. This hearing had to do with fraud, fraud being perpetrated. Well, I want to talk about the corruption being perpetrated. I spoke about this at the hearing today, and I shall revisit some of these things that I called to the attention of the public at the hearing today. The first is a news article. It is styled ``Trump meme coin down 96 percent as bitcoin and meme coins slide.'' This is the $TRUMP memecoin. This article is dated February 9, 2026, and I shall read excerpts. It reads in part this: ``Last February, the coin's market capitalization stood at $3.5 billion''--we are talking about now the $TRUMP memecoin, $3.5 billion--``already well below its $14.5 billion peak on the eve of his second inauguration.'' When the Trump administration took on the task of being President again--which I regret occurred, to be quite candid with you, but when it did, it also, at the same time, by and through Trump the person, introduced a memecoin. That memecoin stood capitalized at $3.5 billion. Well, this is $14.5 billion at its peak. It was $3.5 billion later. At its peak, it was $14.5. ``Today, it has fallen to $1.78 billion.'' To repeat, so as to allow people to completely understand, initially it was capitalized at $3.5 billion. It then made an upward move to $14.5 billion. This was at its peak. Today, this is following February 9, it fell to $1.78 billion. Why is this important? Why is it important for me to call this article to your attention? It is because there is something called pump and dump, pump and dump. This is where clever people will create something such as a memecoin, and they will instantly start to put money into it, but they use famous people. In using these famous people, this name identification in and of itself brings credibility to the product that they are placing in the market. That credibility causes the product to move rapidly in its value. It goes up. As it goes up, the people who are pumping it, they then find reason at some point to take out their profits. They take out their profits. They pump it, and then they dump it, meaning they get rid of the product. They no longer want it. When they dump it at its zenith, they take out great profits. They make not only millions, but billions. They remove the profits. Let me read on: The indication is there was ``a large-scale pump-and- dump scheme involving at least 15 cryptocurrencies, including $MELANIA.'' That is the currency of the President's wife, whom I have great respect for, by the way. I really do. I have met her and found her to be a very pleasant lady, but I have observed her from afar, and I have great respect for her. ``The complaint alleged that First Lady Melania Trump was used as a [[Page H2456]] `window dressing for a crime engineered by''' other persons. But the point is this: It was engineered by other persons, but the Trump family made large sums of money as a result. In fact, I have a second article that is styled ``Melania Trump's meme coin architects accused of pump-and-dump fraud in lawsuit.'' This one is dated October 23, 2025, and it is from The Guardian. I would beg that people would peruse these at their leisure so that they might acquire additional intelligence about the articles that I am calling to their attention. This one says: ``The $MELANIA coins were released for just a few cents each on 19 January, the day before Donald Trump was inaugurated as U.S. President.'' The day before he becomes President, the coin is released. Then within hours, this coin price soared to $13.73. It went from a value of a few cents, just a few cents to $13.73. However, it then collapsed almost as quickly and is now only worth about 10 cents. It went from pennies to $13.73, collapsed to less than 10 cents--about 10 cents. That is less than 1 percent of its peak price. This coin traded at a peak of $45.47 and now goes for $5.79. The article also indicates that: ``The Trump family has pocketed more than $1 billion in pretax profits from several cryptocurrency-related products and companies over the past 12 months.'' In 12 months, they pocketed more than $1 billion in pretax profits. {time} 1740 Pumping and dumping allowing consumers to be left holding the bag. Many people who assume that because the President's name is associated with it or a family member of the President is associated with it, they assume that it is credible and then they do incredible things. They just buy into it because they assume that the name itself gives it the credibility that will cause them to make large sums of money. Well, some people do make large sums of money. These are the people that introduce these coins. These are the people that pump them up, and these are the people who take their profits right off the top at the zenith of the market for the coin. This kind of scam, this kind of scheme is something that we should not tolerate emanating from the highest office in the land. The President of the United States is in the business of performing what I call a hustle, a hustle of the country itself, of the market itself. The President uses all sorts of scams to make money based upon the fact that he is the President of the United States and his name should bring some sort of credibility to products that other people will buy into and lose money. I regret that this happens, and the best way for us to stop it right now immediately is for people to understand that the President's name is not worth what it appears to be worth. People should not buy into these scams simply because the President associates his name with it. At some point, the President and his family members will take their money out and when that happens, the dumping starts. When the dumping starts, those consumers who bought in in good faith end up losing money. Pump and dump: raise the price, sell, dump, and leave others holding the bag and they take the profits. This kind of corruption is not limited to just the family of the President. Just today, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Secretary Noem, has been relieved of duty. There is a good reason why. Just today I spoke about this at the financial services hearing when we talked about this corruption. Here is an article titled: ``Firm Tied to Kristi Noem Secretly Got Money From $220 Million DHS Ad Contracts.'' This is indicating that the Secretary had these contracts within the purview of her jurisdiction and that there were ad companies, companies that were advertising on behalf of the Federal Government. These ad companies received some $220 million in DHS contracts. Now, well, maybe that is not all bad. Ad companies make money. Ad companies should make money when they perform a service, a worthy service, but there is something about this contract and some of these that are a little bit different. By the way, this article is dated November 14, 2025. ProPublica is the publisher, and I will read just a bit more about this before I go on. Let's read: ``Advertising firms make money by taking an often-hefty commission. Federal records show the contracts have gone to two firms.'' We are talking about the Secretary now and her contracts that were let under the jurisdiction of her office on her watch. ``The contracts have gone to two firms. One is a Republican ad company in Louisiana called People Who Think, which has been awarded $77 million.'' That is not the bad news, ``But the majority of the money, $143 million''--I repeat for emphasis--``$143 million has gone to a mysterious LLC in Delaware. The company was created just days before it was awarded the deal.'' Days before receiving a $143 million contract, a mysterious LLC was created in Delaware, $143 million. Mr. Speaker, if it really walks like, looks like, and quacks like a corrupt duck, then that is probably what it is, and that is what this is--$143 million, a just created company. Well, the President and Ms. Noem have had a little bit of a disagreement about this it seems. The President denies any association with this, as he always does. My speculation is that Ms. Noem is correct when she gives the indication that the White House approved of what she was doing and

Referenced legislation: HRES1099