{"id":129726,"date":"2025-05-21T18:17:47","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T18:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/?p=129726"},"modified":"2025-05-21T18:17:47","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T18:17:47","slug":"interest-groups-lawmakers-to-protest-trumps-memecoin-dinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/?p=129726","title":{"rendered":"Interest groups, lawmakers to protest Trump's memecoin dinner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: Cointelegraph.com NewsDemocratic leaning organizations and members of Congress have announced plans to protest what they describe as the sale of access to the office of the US president, in reference to Donald Trump\u2019s memecoin dinner on May 22. The event\u2019s attendees are said to have collectively spent over $100 million for the chance to meet with the US president.
\nSince Trump\u2019s memecoin project, Official Trump (TRUMP), announced that its top 220 tokenholders would have an opportunity to apply for an exclusive dinner with the president, many leaders in the crypto industry and US lawmakers have criticized the event, saying Trump was opening his office to potential bribery and corruption.
\nThe memecoin dinner prompted some Democratic lawmakers to withdraw support for crypto-related legislation in Congress, including the market structure and stablecoin bills.
\n\u201cTrump collecting gifts from foreign governments is unconstitutional,\u201d a spokesperson for the consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen, which is planning to protest near the memecoin dinner on May 22, told Cointelegraph. \u201cCollecting foreign government investments through his memecoin is not much better. American foreign policy should not be for sale.\u201d
\nSource: Public CitizenCrypto industry figures such as Tron founder Justin Sun, Kronos Research chief investment officer Vincent Liu, Hyperithm co-CEO Oh Sangrok, and Synthetix founder Kain Warwick are among the tokenholders expected to attend the dinner at the Trump National Golf Club outside Washington, DC. The memecoin project said all applicants had to pass a background check and could not be from a \u201c[Know Your Customer] watchlist country.\u201d
\nRelated: Democrats seek suspicious activity reports linked to Trump crypto ventures
\nPublic Citizen, in partnership with progressive political organization Our Revolution, will hold a rally near the golf club, which Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley is expected to attend. In addition, the Arlington and Loudoun Democrats will be hosting a separate event to urge US officials to \u201chold [Trump] accountable,\u201d and Democratic leadership in Congress has scheduled two press events on May 22 ahead of the dinner.
\n\u201cAmericans cannot and will not accept President Trump\u2019s view that positions of power exist only to benefit the holder of that power,\u201d Ryan Ruzic, chair of the Loudoun County Democratic Committee, told Cointelegraph. \u201cWe have a moral responsibility to speak out against corruption, whatever the result may be.\u201d
\nPushback on TRUMP memecoin affected crypto legislation
\nSome lawmakers initially cited the memecoin dinner and the Trump family\u2019s involvement with the crypto platform World Liberty Financial in opposing passage of the GENIUS Act, a bill to regulate payment stablecoins. World Liberty Financial began issuing its own USD1 stablecoin in March, prompting concerns about Trump\u2019s conflicts of interest. However, the legislation passed a key procedural vote in the Senate on May 19 with support from Democrats, setting the bill up for debate in the chamber.
\n\u201cMany senators, myself included, have very real concerns about the Trump family\u2019s use of crypto technologies to evade oversight, hide shady financial dealings, and personally profit at the expense of everyday Americans,\u201d said Sen. Mark Warner in a statement before the May 19 vote, adding: \u201cBut we cannot allow that corruption to blind us to the broader reality: blockchain technology is here to stay.\u201d
\nSenator Chris Murphy, who voted against advancing the GENIUS Act, called for bipartisan support in amending the bill to specifically bar a US president from issuing stablecoins. He also called on the White House to release a complete list of attendees to the memecoin dinner, suggesting that some or all of them would \u201ctry to get something from the president\u201d in exchange for purchasing the tokens.
\nMurphy and Senator Elizabeth Warren will attend a press event with representatives for Public Citizen on May 22. California Representative Maxine Waters, ranking member of the US House Financial Services Committee, announced a separate press conference for the same day, with plans to introduce a bill to \u201cblock Trump\u2019s memecoin and stop his crypto corruption, once and for all.\u201d
\nAs of May 21, the exact number of attendees to the dinner was unknown. A smaller group of 25 tokenholders also qualified to apply for \u201cVIP tour\u201d and reception \u2014 presumably at the White House \u2014 with Trump, but the complete list of those planning to attend was also unknown at the time of publication.
\nMagazine: Trump\u2019s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questionsRead More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: Cointelegraph.com NewsDemocratic leaning organizations and members of Congress have announced plans to protest what they describe as the sale of access to the office of the US president, in… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129726"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=129726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129726\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=129726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=129726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=129726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}