Senate Democrat Says He's Looking Into Trump's Crypto Businesses
Time is running out!
With only one week left, Senator Richard Blumenthal has set his sights on investigating former President Trump's involvement in cryptocurrency businesses. The senator, a key figure in the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, penned letters to executives linked to Trump's enterprises seeking clarification on ownership and investment structures.
Specifically addressing Bill Zanker from Fight Fight Fight LLC and Zach Witkoff of World Liberty Financial, Senator Blumenthal delved into inquiries regarding various Trump-associated entities such as the TRUMP memecoin creator Fight Fight Fight LLC, CIC Digital LLC responsible for Trump's NFTs, Celebration Cards LLC related to Trump's NFTs, DTTM Operations LLC managing Trump's intellectual property rights, as well as World Liberty Financial and its affiliates.
Highlighting concerns about potential conflicts of interest and legal violations arising from President Trump’s cryptocurrency endeavors and financial interactions with foreign entities and crypto firms, these letters underscored the need for clarity. Requests for documentation tied to the crypto businesses were part of the inquiry.
Despite being in the minority party in the Senate currently, Senator Blumenthal lacks subpoena power without support from his Republican colleague Senator Ron Johnson. On another front, Senator Ruben Gallego and fellow Democrats made it clear over the weekend that they would not back the stablecoin bill due to apprehensions about Trump’s connections to cryptocurrencies. This sentiment was echoed by Senator Chris Murphy who proposed a bill prohibiting the U.S. president and senior officials from launching memecoins or financial assets.
Senate Democrat Says He's Looking Into Trump's Crypto Businesses
Sen. Richard Blumenthal wrote letters to Trump-affiliated business executives, asking about their ownership and investment structure.
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"The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations is conducting a preliminary inquiry into potential conflicts of interest and violations of the law from President Trump's cryptocurrency ventures … and associated businesses' financial dealings with foreign nationals, foreign governments and other cryptocurrency firms," the letters both said, with one pointing to World Liberty Financial and the other to the $TRUMP memecoin.
The letters also ask the executives to produce records tied to the Trump-affiliated crypto businesses.
Because Democrats are currently the minority party in the Senate, Blumenthal does not have subpoena power unless his Republican counterpart, Sen. Ron Johnson, also signs on. A spokesperson for Johnson did not immediately return a request for comment.
A weekend statement from Sen. Ruben Gallego and a handful of other Democrats saying the lawmakers would not vote for the Senate's stablecoin bill also seems to stem from Trump's crypto ties — in particular the announcement by Eric Trump that Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX would use the Trump-affiliated USD1 stablecoin to close a $2 billion investment into Binance.
Sen. Chris Murphy also introduced a bill Tuesday which would ban the U.S. president and other senior government officials from issuing memecoins or other financial assets.
