Two Democratic senators called on the Office of Government Ethics to investigate a dinner President Donald Trump is holding for the biggest investors of his meme coin, $TRUMP.
Earlier this month, Trump revealed that he would host a dinner at his private club in Washington, D.C., with the top 220 holders of the meme coin. The top 25 holders will also be invited to a pre-dinner reception hosted by the president and receive a White House tour. The coin’s price rallied nearly 49% following Trump’s announcement.
Sens. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said the dinner proved Trump may be engaging in “pay-to-play corruption.” They accused him of exploiting his name and the office of the presidency “for personal financial gain,” and said his business deals could be breaching federal ethics laws.
The pair also requested OGE investigate their concerns that Trump could be illegally “selling presidential access,” including to foreign interests such as Chinese nationals with “vested interests in federal action.”
Trump’s meme coin dinner “raises the troubling prospect that foreign actors are using the meme coin as a vector to buy influence with President Trump and his associates without needing to disclose their identities publicly,” Schiff and Warren said.
The senators pressed acting OGE Director Jamieson Greer on whether there are any mechanisms to determine whether the president is unlawfully granting exclusive access to the White House “to select individuals in exchange for investment in the financial interests and entities of the President.”
TRUMP TO HOST TOP HOLDERS OF HIS MEME COIN FOR ‘INTIMATE PRIVATE DINNER’
They also requested further information on what, if any, safeguards are in place to prevent individuals under federal investigation, foreigners, or those seeking pardons from investing in Trump’s meme coin and other financial ventures “in order to gain political influence.”
The meme coin debuted just days before Trump was sworn into office in January, with approximately 200 million coins made available to the public. Days later, first lady Melania Trump followed suit with her meme coin. However, buyers were warned that the cryptocurrency is “not intended to be, or to be the subject of, an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type.”