U.S. President Donald Trump is planning to host a dinner on May 22 for the holders of his memecoin TRUMP.
According to a post on Truth Social shared by the president, the event will take place in Washington, DC and will include a White House tour for selected holders. This announcement has sparked strong reactions from lawmakers in both political parties. Meanwhile, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and California Senator Adam Schiff have warned that this dinner provides private access to the president in exchange for financial investment.
In a joint letter, they stated, "President Trump's statement promises exclusive access to the presidency in exchange for a significant investment in one of the president's business projects." Senator Jon Ossoff, speaking at a town hall on April 25, said this move is "a potentially impeachable offense."
The TRUMP memecoin, launched in January, has been marketed to supporters as a digital asset tied to Trump's brand. Since the announcement of the gala, critics have argued that it blurs the lines between public duty and private enterprise. Cryptocurrency-supporting Senator Cynthia Lummis also expressed concerns, stating that the president offering exclusive access "gives [her] pause."
On May 4, Senator Warren posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the Trump family's stablecoin, USD1, has risen in value following a deal with the United Arab Emirates. According to her, the investment was settled in USD1 and raised serious national security concerns. This $2 billion deal was made by Abu Dhabi's investment firm MGX and was announced by Eric Trump at a cryptocurrency conference in Dubai.
According to CoinMarketCap data, the market capitalization of 1 USD surged from below $137 million on May 1 to over $2.1 billion on May 2. Critics point to this deal as evidence of foreign financial involvement with the sitting U.S. president. Warren added, "The Senate should not pass the cryptocurrency bill this week to facilitate this kind of corruption."
However, Eric Trump defended the discussion of the cryptocurrency initiative seminar at Token2049 in Dubai. He said, "The U.S. is seeing that the financial world must progress... It doesn't make any sense." A recent video clip shared by Warren shows Trump giving mixed answers when asked if he has made money from memecoin. He replied, "I haven't even looked."