Durbin Urges Chairman Grassley To Hold A Hearing To Investigate Donald Trump Jr. Accepting A Lavish Gift from A Russian Oligarch

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, again backed Senator John Curtis’s (R-UT) call for the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate the use of presidential family relationships for private financial benefit, preferential treatment, or access by domestic and foreign interests. Curtis’s letter highlights the serious concerns over the lavish wedding reception provided to the President’s son, Donald Trump Jr., by a Russian oligarch. During his opening, Durbin reiterated that the Committee could take up the investigation during the lame duck session—rebutting Republicans’ statements that there is not enough time in the year.

Key Quotes:

“As I told the Chairman privately, I support Senator Curtis’s request. Corruption at the highest levels of our government should never be tolerated. If we ignore this matter in the Senate Judiciary Committee, we run the risk of being complicit in this coverup. Hunter Biden, who has already given a sworn deposition to Congress on this issue twice, has offered to appear before the Committee voluntarily.”

“Some claim that it’s too late in the year to investigate. Come on. This is September. Putting together the questions for a deposition of Donald Trump Jr. is not going to take more than a week, is it?... Republicans are about to take a six-week recess from the people’s business, but we have staff who can conduct a deposition of Donald Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden and we can hold a hearing when the Senate reconvenes in November.”

“Yesterday, the Chairman tried to justify ignoring Senator Curtis’s request by claiming the Democrats failed to conduct oversight during the Biden Administration. Not true. When I was Chair of the Committee, we held regular oversight hearings over the Justice Department, FBI, and DHS. And I frequently criticized the Biden Administration and compelled Biden officials to answer for their actions.”

“But to try to draw a moral equivalence between the misdeeds of the Biden Administration and the current Administration is ludicrous… In the first year since he returned to office, the President has tripled his wealth. He has made exponentially more money in office than any other President in history, raking in $1.4 billion from his family’s cryptocurrency businesses in 2025 alone.”

“President Trump has already taken a wrecking ball to the White House. This week, he has taken a wrecking ball to the First Amendment, barring several media outlets from the People’s House. This is nothing new from the President, who for years has called the press the ‘enemy of the people.’ He has done more to dismantle the freedom of the press than any President in modern history.”

“As I walked into this Committee with my staffers, [I was told] there was an order [from] a local federal judge yesterday, that …allowed three news entities to enter the White House today. It was reported to me that the White House has refused them from entry. An emergency order is being brought before this judge. How many times do we ask nominees, ‘do you think it is important that you follow the orders of the court?’ Every one of them has said yes, [yet] now at the highest level of the Trump Administration, they are defying a court order to allow three news outlets to cover the President of the United States.”

“This week, Judge [Patrick] Schiltz granted a rare interview to make clear what is at stake if we don’t stand up to this Administration. He said, ‘The rule of law to democracy is like oxygen to a human body …If you don’t have it, you have either anarchy or you have authoritarianism. You have Russia or you have China or you have North Korea.’ We would all be wise to heed that warning.”

Video of Durbin’s opening statement is available here.

Audio of Durbin’s opening statement is available here.

Footage of Durbin’s opening statement is available here for TV Stations.

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