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Democrat Representative Gerald Connolly said Donald Trump is unlikely to uphold a “single provision” of the Presidential Ethics Reform Act without intervention.
A Democrat lawmaker called on the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to investigate whether President Donald Trump’s crypto ventures conflict with his presidential duties.
Trump may already be cashing in profits from his World Liberty Financial (WLF) platform and the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin, potentially breaching ethical standards and creating national security risks, Representative Gerald Connolly of Virginia said in a Jan. 21 letter to the committee’s Republican chair, James Comer.
Trump’s WLF is “particularly troubling” because its largest investor — Tron founder Justin Sun — is a foreign entrepreneur whom the Securities and Exchange Commission has charged with securities fraud, Connolly said.
Financial “entanglements” like this one raise “serious national security concerns” about the potential for foreign influence on US policy, he added.
Sun has invested $75 million into World Liberty by buying its namesake token, which Connolly said helped the Trump family’s company to surpass its self-determined revenue threshold, “which could begin funneling cash directly to President Trump.”
“Allowing such practices to persist unchecked would signal to the American people that the Oversight Committee is unwilling or unable to enforce the standards it claims to uphold,” Connolly said.
Gerald E. Connolly’s letter to Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s James Comer. Source: Oversight Committee Democrats
He added that Trump is unlikely to uphold a “single provision” of the Presidential Ethics Reform Act without committee intervention. This law mandates financial disclosures and conflict-of-interest checks, among other things.
“If these reforms are to mean anything, they must be applied universally,” Connolly said.
Related: Will Trump’s second term make or break the crypto industry?
Trump’s team controversially launched the TRUMP memecoin two days before his inauguration — a move that led to ethics experts expressing concern over Trump potentially “cashing in” on his presidency.
Trump admitted he didn’t know much about the TRUMP token launch when asked in a Jan. 21 press conference.
“I don’t know where it is. I don’t know much about it other than I launched it, other than it was very successful.”🚨 JUST IN: President Trump found out that he made several billions with his memecoin launch and said that it’s peanuts. pic.twitter.com/wlXv6xt6xW
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) January 21, 2025Magazine: How crypto laws are changing across the world in 2025
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