Ranking Member Raskin Demands Answers on Role of MAGA Hedge Fund Manager in Trump’s $40 Billion Argentina Bailout

Washington, D.C. (October 31, 2025)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, is investigating the Trump Administration’s $40 billion bailout to Argentina—half funded by American taxpayers—that appears designed to juice a billionaire hedge fund manager’s Argentinian investors and prop up Argentina’s MAGA-aligned President. This bailout is happening while federal workers, including law enforcement and air traffic controllers, are forced to work without pay, and the Administration refuses to release funding for food and nutrition assistance for millions of Americans during the Republican government shutdown.

In a letter to Robert Citrone, the owner of a $2.5 billion hedge fund, Discovery Capital Management, and longtime friend and former colleague of Secretary Bessent, Ranking Member Raksin outlined how the bailout appears designed to rescue Citrone’s collapsing Argentinian investments and prop up President Javier Milei, whose right-wing political party was floundering ahead of the October 26 midterm elections.

“The Republican government shutdown has deprived millions of federal workers—including law enforcement and air traffic controllers—of their paychecks and is threatening government programs vital to the American people like the Affordable Care Act health insurance premium tax credits, Medicaid, and SNAP nutritional benefits. But in the midst of this government-created crisis, the Trump Administration has chosen to arrange a $40 billion bailout to Argentina—half of it funded with taxpayer money,” wrote Ranking Member Raskin.

Citrone, who boasted in 2013 of being responsible for “75 percent” of Bessent’s bonus during their time working for George Soros, manages a $2.5 billion hedge fund with massive exposure to Argentinian debt. As Argentina’s economy cratered and Citrone’s investments faced ruin, press reports indicate he personally lobbied Secretary Bessent to intervene. Within weeks, President Trump and Secretary Bessent announced the $40 billion package: $20 billion from U.S. taxpayers and $20 billion from private sources.

At a joint press conference with President Milei days before Argentina’s legislative elections, President Trump explicitly tied the bailout to electoral outcomes. Despite forecasts of defeat, Milei’s party narrowly prevailed, delivering a windfall to both Trump’s foreign MAGA ally and Citrone’s distressed investments.

More than 40 million Americans may go hungry next month because the Administration refuses to address an $8 billion shortfall in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Trump’s own Agriculture Secretary, Brooke Rollins, has called the Argentina bailout “highly unfortunate.”

“It is imperative that the American people have a full understanding of why, in the midst of a government shutdown, this Administration has chosen to orchestrate a $40 billion bailout to Argentina that will benefit foreign MAGA allies and hedge fund billionaires but do nothing for the millions of Americans whose healthcare premiums are on the verge of skyrocketing or the millions of families who will no longer receive nutrition and early childhood education assistance,” Ranking Member Raskin continued.

The letter demands all communications among Citrone, Secretary Bessent, President Trump, and President Milei related to the Argentina bailout, records of Discovery Capital’s lobbying activities, and documents detailing its Argentinian holdings and projected financial gains from the taxpayer-funded intervention.

Click here to read the letter.