'What a king does': Dem senator slams Trump's move to 'seize power' with federal grants

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) blasted President Donald Trump's attempt to "seize power" and behave as a "king" by freezing federal grants while his administration conducts an across-the-board ideological review of programs.

In a statement, Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, explained the stoppage of federal money.

"The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve," he said.

Murphy condemned the move at a press conference on Tuesday.

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"So, this is an attempt by Donald Trump to seize power," he explained, pointing to Trump's "broad immunization of political violence, the illegal firing of inspectors general there to make sure that their money, that the money of the taxpayers isn't stolen, and today the illegal and unconstitutional decision to put the President of the United States and no one else in charge of who gets federal money and who doesn't."

"This is what a king does," Murphy insisted. "This is not how a democracy works. One man does not decide how taxpayers' money is spent so that it only gets sent to the President's political friends and it gets used to punish his political enemies."

The senator predicted "enormous" damage as the result of Trump's actions.

"To poor kids who rely on Head Start programs, to families who desperately need that cancer research done, to veterans who, if they miss one or two appointments, their life falls apart suddenly overnight," he argued.

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"The President wants you to be distracted by the day-to-day announcements, but put together the pardoning of the violent rioters, the firing of the inspectors general, and today, the stoppage of federal funding, leaving the decision only to the political whims of President Trump, represents the gravest, most serious constitutional crisis of our lifetime, one that threatens to undermine the very premise of American democracy."

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