More than thirty congressmen demanded that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate President Donald Trump's private dinner with investors in his meme coin. In their opinion, such an event could have violated the Constitution.
In a letter dated May 22, thirty-five members of the House of Representatives urged Acting Head of the Office of Public Ethics Edward Sullivan to initiate an investigation. The reason is serious—a possible violation of federal bribery laws and a clause in the Constitution regarding rewards.
According to this constitutional clause, the President of the United States cannot accept gifts from foreign states without the approval of Congress. Bloomberg reported that most of the dinner attendees were likely foreign nationals associated with cryptocurrency exchanges.
"American law prohibits foreign entities from making contributions to U.S. political campaigns," the letter states. "However, the meme coin $TRUMP, including the promotion of the dinner with the promise of exclusive access to the president, allows foreign governments to buy influence over the president without disclosing their identities."
A call for investigation and a press conference demanding the 'release of the guest list' took place a few hours before the event at the Trump National Golf Club outside Washington. A group of protesters led by Senator Jeff Merkley gathered at the entrance with signs reading 'illegal crypto party' and 'democracy is not for sale'.
Although some dinner participants concealed their faces with masks, protesters and journalists confirmed the presence of Tron founder Justin Sun and other Trump supporters who posted on social media. A complete list of attendees was not available at the time of publication.
In addition to calling for an investigation, Democrats in the House and Senate proposed a bill to combat what they called 'Trump's crypto-corruption.' This uproar comes amid Congress's consideration of a bill to regulate stablecoins and a market structure bill.
Several Democratic senators who initially voted against advancing the stablecoin bill called the GENIUS Act later joined Republicans to organize debates in the chamber.