Once again, former President Donald Trump is in deep trouble. Experts warn that his affiliation with a recently created memecoin could run afoul of constitutional prohibitions against bribes and extorting. Trump was already buried with emoluments lawsuits his first term, as we covered here and here. Now, he’s been giving privileged audiences to the people who buy his new cryptocurrency, something that should raise huge red flags about the legality and appropriateness of what he’s doing.
On January 18, just days before his inauguration, Trump launched the memecoin. Since then, it’s garnered the most attention by making headlines with its meteoric rise in price. Through two subsidiaries, the Trump Organization controls 80 percent of the total supply of this coin. After the announcement that he was having dinner with some of the biggest investors in the cryptocurrency, its price skyrocketed by almost 60 percent. This strategic maneuvering has caused some election prognosticators to make bold predictions about what it means for Trump’s own long-term political prospects.
The emoluments clauses of the U.S. Constitution leave no room for interpretation. This is a clear violation. This involves any monetary payment from all foreign and domestic entities of state actors. Experts caution that if people from countries like Russia sit down with Trump over dinner after purchasing his coin, they could be breaching these clauses. This is a slippery slope with alarming legal implications.
Democrat Senator Jon Ossoff partook in Fischer’s condemnation, stating that “Sen. As it stands, he is granting audiences to people who buy the memecoin that directly enriches him. Ossoff’s strongest points focused on how this type of conduct presents serious constitutional issues. Specifically, he boasted, “There is no doubt that this president’s actions have already broken any prior standard for impeachment.”
Jeff Hauser, a political expert, added that Trump has historically pushed the boundaries of what is permissible for someone in power. “Trump has built an entire life prodding the border of what a powerful person can get away with,” he remarked. He cautioned that Trump now has an iron-fisted control of Congress and the Republican Party. His blatant recent dinner brazen political play could bring about unexpected political consequences. There’s a tipping point I guess, where at a certain time, he can overreach and the backlash is on him. This [dinner] can be that,” Hauser declared.
Despite the controversies, Trump’s creation of opportunities for wealthy individuals to purchase direct access to him raises fundamental questions about the ethics of political engagement. Lisa Bragança is a nationally recognized expert on securities law. Neither utility tokens nor memecoins should be SEC regulated, she noted. This void in regulatory authority makes it difficult to pursue any immediate consequences for Trump’s actions related to the cryptocurrency market.
Now, speculation is swirling about what it will be used for. As other activists noted, Nathan van der Heyden said, “To Peele’s point, the door to utility has been opened. The market will start to demand additional utility beyond just holding that coin. This expectation will artificially increase demand for, and price of, Trump’s hypothetical cryptocurrency. Potential investors are just as keen to make sure they don’t miss their chance to speak to him directly.
While some members of Congress have raised alarms about Trump’s conduct, many analysts believe calls for impeachment are unlikely to gain traction due to Trump’s control over the Republican Party. Hauser added that Trump holds the Republican Party in a white-knuckled grip today. He thinks the prospect of a successful impeachment leading to a guilty verdict appears pretty fanciful.
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