President Donald Trump dined with the top purchasers of his meme coin at a black-tie gala Thursday night, demonstrating his willingness to cross what was once seen as an ethical red line: profiting off the presidency while in office.
Presidents of both parties have long granted special access to wealthy political donors and participated in private dinners to raise funds for their parties or their own campaigns. But campaign money comes with legal restraints, and donors must disclose donations to political candidates or committees.
Trump’s crypto venture is different: He and his family profit personally when people buy his meme coin, and crypto transactions are often shrouded in anonymity. The venture has collected millions of dollars in crypto transaction fees from the attendees eager to gain access to Trump, who has described himself as the “crypto president.”
Since the meme coin’s debut in January, Trump-affiliated businesses have received $312 million from crypto sales and $43 million in total fees, according to a Washington Post analysis of data through last week. Crypto wallets linked to Trump and his partners have earned about $3 million in transaction fees charged to coin buyers since the dinner was announced last month, The Post’s analysis found.
The White House has argued the dinner poses no conflict of interest because the president’s assets are in a blind trust managed by his adult sons. Asked whether the administration would commit to releasing a list of the dinner attendees, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday she would “raise that question” internally. Leavitt argued that the event “is not a White House dinner” and that “the president is attending it in his personal time.”
The Chinese-born crypto billionaire Justin Sun, former National Basketball Association player Lamar Odom and a crypto investor known as “Ogle” are among the top 220 buyers of the meme coin who qualified to attend the Thursday dinner at Trump’s golf club in Virginia. Sun, who had been under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission over 2023 allegations that he had tried to manipulate markets, invested millions in one of Trump’s other crypto ventures after the November election. In February, shortly after Trump took office, the SEC asked a court to halt the case against the crypto baron. Sun did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story….