Schumer unveils anti-corruption legislation

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduced legislation on Thursday that would create a new independent federal agency to investigate corruption across the executive branch in response to the Trump administration.

"America's crying out for Congress to crack down on this unprecedented corruption, and they want their leaders to reckon with how Trump corruption was possible in the first place so that we can make sure it never, never happens again," he said at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau Creation Act, he said, would rein in the ways Democrats say the president and his allies are profiting from the White House.

The bill would combine three existing agencies — the Office of Government Ethics, the Federal Election Commission and the Office of Special Counsel — under a new agency led by a seven-member board confirmed by the Senate.

It would bar presidents and vice presidents, as well as their immediate families and many senior administration officials, from accepting anything worth more than $50,000 and would allow states and private plaintiffs to sue over violations.

"This bill is the biggest, boldest and broadest proposal ever put forward to revitalize our anti-corruption institutions," Sen. Schumer said.

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