L.A. Times Politics is reporting that California's junior U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, a Democrat, plans to address President Donald Trump's alleged conflicts of interest and financial dealings in a Senate floor speech on Thursday. The outlet said Trump has reportedly accumulated at least $2.2 billion during his first year back in office, funneling millions of taxpayer dollars and foreign payments to his businesses. It cited a "tricked-out Air Force One" from the Qatari government, which Trump reportedly intends to keep in retirement, as a notable example of his financial practices.
The L.A. Times Politics also reported on Trump's alleged tax dealings, stating he filed a lawsuit against himself, leading to a settlement engineered by his Department of Justice. This settlement reportedly shields Trump and his family from Internal Revenue Service oversight. The outlet said Trump has also used his pardon power to draw contributions.
Schiff, a long-standing critic of the president who led Trump's first impeachment trial as a House member, stated in a preview of his speech that "the scope of the corruption we’ve seen in this administration is beyond anything we have imagined in prior years or prior administrations." He described it as "novel and breathtaking." Schiff's intent is to highlight the "real cost to ordinary people" of Trump's self-dealing, using examples such as a president approving a merger not for consumer or economic benefit, but due to payments from participants. He referenced the proposed merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery and a settlement involving CBS as examples.