It still seems hard to believe, but in the last Congress, the House Republican majority formally launched an impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden. The endeavor never made any sense, but the underlying allegation was that the Democratic president was somehow the beneficiary of a weird bribery scheme.
When pressed to justify their efforts, the GOP’s impeachment proponents pointed to an informant who brought bribery allegations to the attention of the FBI. That same informant was ultimately sent to prison — because he lied to the FBI about Biden.
That said, if there are still officials looking for a burgeoning controversy surrounding a president and the potential for possible bribes, do I have a story for them. NBC News reported:
President Donald Trump and his allies have raked in nearly $900,000 in trading fees over the past two days from the president’s $TRUMP cryptocurrency token, according to Chainalysis, a blockchain data company. The surge came after a Wednesday announcement in which the top 220 holders of the token were promised dinner with the president.
In case anyone needs a refresher as to how we arrived at this point, the trouble began in earnest in January. With just three days remaining before his presidential inauguration, Trump found time to launch one last post-election grift: Without explanation or defense, the Republican and his family started selling a cryptocurrency token.
While the president’s many merchandising opportunities have been difficult to keep up with, this endeavor was arguably the most outrageous — partly because of the rather obvious conflict of interest related to the Securities and Exchange Commission and partly because of the brazenness of Trump’s profiteering.
The Campaign Legal Center’s Adav Noti explained soon after, “It is literally cashing in on the presidency — creating a financial instrument so people can transfer money to the president’s family in connection with his office. It is beyond unprecedented.”
What was to stop a foreign government, eager to bribe the American president, from quietly dumping money into Trump’s crypto project, effectively making direct payments to the president without public disclosure? Nothing.
The day after being sworn into office, Trump continued to use his social media platform to promote his controversial meme coin. In the weeks that followed, his efforts continued. In late January, the president wrote online, “I LOVE $TRUMP!!” In March, adopting the writing style of a tween, Trump published a follow-up item that read, “I LOVE $TRUMP — SO COOL!!! The Greatest of them all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
But last week, the endeavor reached a new level: A website promoting one of the president’s crypto offerings launched a contest of sorts, in which those who purchased his meme coin would have a chance to win special access to Trump. (The online listing originally offered a White House tour as part of the package, but the wording of the website was later changed.)
The New York Times’ report on this described it as “an astonishing escalation of the Trump family’s efforts to profit from crypto,” adding that, for all intents and purposes, Trump’s business partners were offering presidential access “in exchange for an investment” in one of Trump’s ventures.
Soon after, not surprisingly, the gambit proved quite profitable. In addition to the aforementioned NBC News’ report, a Washington Post analysis found that buyers have poured “tens of millions of dollars” into Trump’s meme coin “since his team advertised Wednesday that top purchasers could join Trump for an ‘intimate private dinner’ next month.”
Note, we’re not talking about campaign fundraising or political action committees. Rather, this is a private venture, launched by the president for his own personal benefit, which allows anonymous people to give Trump undisclosed money for a chance at buying presidential access.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said of the scheme, “This isn’t Trump just being Trump. The Trump coin scam is the most brazenly corrupt thing a President has ever done. Not close.”
The New Republic’s Michael Tomasky came to the same conclusion: “This doesn’t create the ‘appearance’ of corruption or set up the ‘potential’ for conflict of interest. It is corruption. … Patently, and historically. Chris Murphy is right: This is the most corrupt thing any president has ever done, by a mile.”
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
