Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said President-elect Trump is attacking the media because he is “trying to steal” from Americans.
Murphy joined MNSNBC’s “Deadline: White House” on Wednesday, where he elaborated on his lengthy X thread post about Trump crippling democracy ahead of taking office.
“I think it’s really important to explain to people the why, right, why is Donald Trump engaged in this relentless campaign to try to silence journalists, media companies and his political opposition? It’s because he’s trying to steal from you,” Murphy said, highlighted by Mediaite.
“He and his friends are in charge of government because they want to rig the rules in order to make them even richer. The billionaires that are in charge of his cabinet want to be multi-billionaires,” Murphy added.
Even before the next Trump administration begins, the pressures from billionaires like Elon Musk have already infiltrated Congress. On Wednesday, Musk, who has been tapped to co-lead Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, led an aggressive push against a government spending bill that would avert a shutdown.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump transition team for comment.
In his thread online, Murphy outlined how Trump has begun to “cripple our democracy.” He highlighted the recent GOP report that called for charges against former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who sat on the Jan. 6 committee, as well as the efforts to control the media.
Trump and ABC News recently settled a $15 million defamation lawsuit and the president-elect filed a suit against The Des Moines Register and its famed pollster Ann Selzer.
“He wants to steal from ordinary Americans in order to make him and his Mar-a-Lago friends even richer. And the reason that he wants to silence his critics and silence the media is that he doesn’t want anybody to notice the kleptocracy that he is building,” Murphy said.
Murphy noted that the average American citizen doesn’t entirely care if ABC News and Trump settle a lawsuit. They do care if their Social Security benefits get cut on behalf of Musk, Murphy said.
“That story is the one that we have to get out there,” he said.
