US House Speaker Mike Johnson recently found himself in the midst of controversy after refusing to address concerns about corruption surrounding President Donald Trump's dinner for top holders of his memecoin. During an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on May 25, Johnson sidestepped questions about the event and whether the list of attendees should be made public for the sake of transparency.
Despite Tapper pointing out that 35 House Democrats have called for the Justice Department to investigate the dinner due to suspicions of foreign investments, Johnson claimed ignorance about the event. He mentioned that he was preoccupied with passing a $1.6 trillion federal budget funding bill during the same week as the dinner and therefore did not have details about it.
Johnson defended Trump, stating that the president was transparent and had nothing to hide. However, Democrats have raised concerns about potential violations of federal bribery statutes or the foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution. The clause prohibits the US president from accepting gifts from foreign states without congressional approval.
Reports indicated that a significant number of attendees at the memecoin dinner were likely foreign nationals. Among the notable participants were Tron CEO Justin Sun, the largest holder of the TRUMP token, and Sheldon Xia, CEO of BitMart, a crypto exchange based in the Cayman Islands. Australian crypto entrepreneur Kain Warwick also confirmed his attendance after acquiring enough TRUMP tokens to rank among the top 25 investors.
In response to the controversy, Senator Elizabeth Warren described Trump's memecoin dinner as an "orgy of corruption." She and other Democrats called for the release of the attendee list and introduced the "Stop TRUMP in Crypto Act" to prevent Trump and his family from financially benefiting from cryptocurrencies while in office.
The bill, spearheaded by Maxine Waters, aims to curb Trump's involvement in various crypto ventures, including the TRUMP memecoin and World Liberty Financial's stablecoin, USD1. Waters criticized Trump for leveraging the presidency to promote and profit from crypto endeavors, alleging that the TRUMP token had boosted his net worth by over $350 million.
Support for the bill extended to 14 additional US lawmakers, including Nydia Velázquez, Brad Sherman, and Gregory Meeks. The proposed legislation underscores growing concerns within the political sphere regarding the intersection of cryptocurrency, political power, and potential conflicts of interest.
As the debate surrounding Trump's memecoin dinner continues to unfold, the issue raises broader questions about the ethical and legal implications of political figures engaging with cryptocurrencies and the need
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