Democratic Senator Chris Murphy went viral over the weekend as he expressed outrage about President Donald Trump’s move to shutter multiple government agencies and stop federal funding.

The Connecticut lawmaker has been on the frontlines with other Democrats in recent days as he claims the United States is facing a constitutional crisis with the Trump administration’s effort to freeze funds and close agencies.

‘I think this is the most serious constitutional crisis the country has faced certainly since Watergate,’ the Democratic lawmaker claimed on Sunday.

‘The president is attempting to seize control of power and for corrupt purposes,’ Murphy told ABC News’ Martha Raddatz.

The impassioned lawmaker said Trump ‘wants to be able to decide how and where money is spent so he can reward his political friends, he can punish his political enemies.’

‘That is the evisceration of democracy,’ Murphy declared, painting an ominous picture in the interview which has been shared thousands of times online.

Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) sounded the alarms on President Trump and Elon Musk’s attempt to cut the size of the federal government claiming it’s the most serious constitutional crisis since Watergate and accused the president of wanting to eviscerate democracy

Since Trump took office, his administration with the help of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) run by billionaire Elon Musk has pushed for funds allocated by Congress to be stopped from going out. 

The administration has also directed the closing of multiple agencies authorized by Congress including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and now the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). 

Republican lawmakers have largely welcomed the president’s actions as an effort to root out government waste and abuse.  

But Democrats have been claiming the president is going against Congress which controls the power of the purse.

The administration now also faces multiple legal battles as groups sue to prevent Trump’s team from withholding money, laying off workers and removing data online.

Murphy blasted the administration for both undermining Congress but also slammed other actions by Trump since he was sworn in last month.

‘You stand that next to wholesale endorsement of political violence with the pardons given to every single January 6 rioter including the most violent who beat police officers over the head with baseball bats, and you can see what he’s trying to do here,’ Murphy claimed.

‘He is trying to crush his opposition by making them afraid of losing federal funding, by making them afraid of physical violence,’ the senator, whose voice shook, continued. 

Murphy emphasized he believes this is a ‘red alert moment when this entire country has to understand that our democracy is at risk.’

He said it was for the billionaire takeover of government. 

Senator Murphy surrounded by other members of Congress at a rally against Elon Musk outside the Treasury Department on February 4 after DOGE gained access to the Treasury payment system and taxpayer data before a judge temporarily restricted the DOGE team’s access to the system

Raddatz at that point interrupted his accusations by pointing out that Trump and Musk have argued they want to cut the federal budget and workforce. She asked the lawmaker if he has issues with that.

‘Well, I don’t, but there is not evidence that that is the goal,’ Murphy shot back. 

The senator claimed the administration sent people home at USAID, but they were still getting paid. 

‘I think you have to ask why are they doing this if it’s not actually accruing any savings?  And to me again the reason is that somebody like Elon Musk stands to gain from the closure of USAID,’ he said. 

Murphy  argued the closure of the agency which has been used as a tool for U.S. influence abroad makes the U.S. less safe around the world, but the move helps China.

The Connecticut lawmaker suggested that because Musk has business ties with China, ‘making Beijing happy’ will benefit him and many billionaires who outsource work there. 

While Democrats have expressed outrage at the Trump administration’s activity in just a series of weeks, they remain in the minority in Congress and have limited tools to block or investigate the administration’s actions on their own. 

Instead they have been bringing attention to what they’ve decried as executive overreach with rallies, press conferences and on the airwaves.  

At the same time, the courts have also weighed in on lawsuits by blocking the federal funding freeze, pausing a deadline for federal workers to take Trump’s ‘buyout’ deal, and restricting DOGE access to the sensitive Treasury payment system.

But Murphy argued it is not clear that the Trump administration is following court orders. He claimed programs in his state are still not receiving the funding they expected. 

‘I think there’s a big question as to whether the administration actually is implementing the court order,’ Murphy said. 

He claimed the ‘pace of this assault on the Constitution in order to serve the billionaire class, it is absolutely dizzying.’

On Monday, a federal judge said directly that the White House had defied his order to release billions in federal grants which could lead to a high-stakes showdown between the executive and judicial branches of government.