Hirono, Colleagues Introduce Corruption Clawback Act to Recover Taxpayer Dollars Paid in Corrupt Settlements with Donald Trump

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) joined Senators Adam Schiff (D-CA), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Dick Durbin (D-IL) in introducing new legislation creating a process to recover taxpayer dollars paid to presidents through settlements or judgments resulting from undue influence or coercion from the White House. The introduction of the Corruption Clawback Act comes as President Trump has sued the federal government, seeking more than $10 billion and demanding his own Justice Department repay him more than $230 million for past legal matters-a move that has caused ethics watchdogs to sound the alarm.

"The Trump regime's corruption is rampant, and it starts at the top. As Trump plots to steal billions in taxpayer dollars, I am proud to introduce this legislation with my colleagues to counteract this abuse of power," said Senator Hirono.

Specifically, this legislation would establish a new legal mechanism for the government to recover federal funds corruptly paid to a president by mandating that the attorney general initiate civil actions to reclaim covered payments unduly paid to a sitting president, including administrative awards under the Federal Tort Claims Act or Treasury-funded settlements.

Under this legislation, courts would be directed to evaluate whether the officials who authorized the payout were presidential appointees or former personal counsel, whether the award exceeds typical private-citizen benchmarks, and whether standard legal defenses were bypassed during negotiations. Once recovered, federal funds would go to the Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section. Lastly, the bill mandates that the Comptroller General, who heads the Government Accountability Office (GAO), submit a formal report to Congress within 180 days of any covered payment exceeding $1 million addressing the same conflict-of-interest and procedural factors used by the courts, providing a secondary layer of accountability for high-value payouts.

This legislation is endorsed by Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington (CREW), Common Cause, Democracy Defenders Action, People for the American Way (PFAW), and Project on Government Oversight (POGO).

The full text of the legislation is available here.

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