Ranking Member Markey Slams Trump Administration’s “Festival of Fraud” at Small Business Committee Hearing

Summary

Release dated May 20, 2026, on a Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee hearing titled "Blowing the Whistle: Inside the Grift that Keeps on Giving." Ranking Member Markey is quoted criticizing the Trump administration's approach to fraud, and the release says Markey cited a taxpayer-funded $1.8 billion fund that it calls a slush fund, and stock trades of at least $220 million attributed to Trump. It says Markey heard from Donald Sherman, President and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). Sherman is quoted saying the administration's approach to fighting fraud has been selective at best and directly enabling at worst.

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Title: Ranking Member Markey Slams Trump Administration’s “Festival of Fraud” at Small Business Committee Hearing
Date: 2026-05-20

Ranking Member Markey Slams Trump Administration’s “Festival of Fraud” at Small Business Committee Hearing

May 20, 2026

RM Markey: “The most alarming fraud is taking place just down the street by the Grifter-in-Chief, Donald Trump.”

(Washington, May 20) – Ranking Member Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today slammed the Trump administration’s “festival of fraud” at a Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee hearing titled, “Blowing the Whistle: Inside the Grift that Keeps on Giving.” Ranking Member Markey spotlighted Trump’s most recent corrupt actions, including Trump’s taxpayer-funded $1.8 billion slush fund for MAGA loyalists and January 6th insurrectionists, his recently uncovered stock trades of at least $220 million, and his recent agreement with his own Justice Department to protect himself, his family members, and his corporate cronies from investigation.

“This President has been engaged in unprecedented corruption and self-dealing since taking office. I agree—we should be doing more to prevent fraud. Especially with this administration, which is the grift that keeps on giving. That is fleecing the taxpayer and rewarding its friends with clemency, no-bid contracts, and foreign cash,” said Ranking Member Markey. “Let’s not fall for Trump’s Art of the Steal. The most alarming fraud—the fraud doing by far the most damage to the American people—is taking place just down the street by the Grifter-in-Chief, Donald Trump.”

During the hearing, Ranking Member Markey heard from Donald Sherman, President and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), who decried the unprecedented fraud committed by the Trump administration.

“If this Committee truly wants to protect small businesses from fraud, it must start by acknowledging that the Trump administration’s approach to fighting fraud has been selective at best and directly enabling at worst,” said Sherman. “I urge this Committee to protect and empower small businesses by taking a holistic view of how fraud impacts their operational ability. Ignoring the issues created by the Trump administration’s haphazard, venal tack on fraud only exacerbates them, increasing the risk that small businesses and other victims suffer.”

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