Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said on Sunday that Donald Trump had so far in his second term committed “10 times” the number of impeachable offenses as he’d committed in his first term and appeared to disagree with senior members of his party who’ve waved off impeachment efforts.
The Connecticut lawmaker has become an increasingly prominent voice among his party’s younger members, who favor a more forceful pushback against the president as his party looks toward 2026.
Murphy spoke Sunday with NBC’s Kristen Welker on Meet the Press, where Welker asked him a question about former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s declaration late in 2025 that Trump’s conduct did not rise to the standard of impeachable so far under his second term. Murphy firmly disagreed.
“I know that this president has committed ten times more impeachable offenses in his second term as he did in his first term. He is stealing from the American people,” he said, calling his judgment a result of having “common sense”.
“The amount of corruption that he is involved in, taking a luxury private jet from Qatar, trading national security secrets to a foreign nation in exchange for a $2 billion investment in his cryptocurrency. That is wildly corrupt,” he said. “I don’t think it’s any secret that the president’s level of corruption and illegality is nuclear grade in his second term compared to his first term.”
Allegations of self-dealing have followed Donald Trump since his earliest days in politics, as reporters began to note that his properties were charging Secret Service agents for staying in rooms while they were on-site protecting the president and his family.
Those accusations were compounded as Trump hosted campaign events and fundraisers at his various properties, including the now-sold Trump International Hotel in downtown Washington, D.C., which became a mainstay for hangers-on eager for face time with the president or his aides and allies.
In his second term, the president pushed traditional ethical standards to their limits with his foray into cryptocurrency, which has attracted lucrative investments from domestic and foreign partners alike.
The senator’s remarks refer to a $2 billion investment by the United Arab Emirates into the crypto firm Binance using a cryptocurrency co-founded by members of Trump’s family, as well as his acceptance of a replacement for Air Force One gifted by the Qatari government.
The House of Representatives is where any impeachment legislation originates, per the Constitution. Democrats are in the minority in both chambers; successful impeachment would require a majority in the House and a two-thirds vote in the Senate to reach a conviction. In December, two dozen Democrats joined with Republicans to defeat articles of impeachment filed by Rep. Al Green of Texas, while dozens more, including members of leadership, voted “present” rather than aye or nay.
Appetite for impeachment could grow after the 2026 midterms if Democrats retake both the House and the Senate, but even then, any effort would be an uphill battle.
Murphy indicated in his interview that he respected the House’s own determinations on the matter. It’s unlikely that any impeachment effort would reach the Senate before 2027 at the very earliest.
Trump was the target of two impeachment efforts during and after his first term. Both were unsuccessful, but the second impeachment effort resulted in the most defections across party lines in the history of presidential U.S. Senate impeachment trials.
