Senate Democrats seek probe of reported UAE stake in Trump family’s crypto company
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Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and ranking member of Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee at a hearing in Washington on Feb 12.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
WASHINGTON – Two Democratic members of the US Senate Banking Committee on Feb 13 asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to examine the potential national security implications of a reported purchase of a US$500 million (S$631.8 million) stake in the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Andy Kim asked Mr Bessent, who heads the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), to determine whether a CFIUS review is required of the 49 per cent UAE stake in World Liberty Financial
CFIUS is a Treasury-led interagency committee that vets foreign investments for national security risks, including top officials from the Defence, State, Commerce, Homeland Security and Justice departments.
In a letter viewed by Reuters, they asked Mr Bessent to respond to several questions about the transaction by March 5, including whether CFIUS had reviewed the deal in any form, or submitted any recommendations to Republican President Donald Trump about it.
The Treasury had no immediate comment on the letter.
“The transaction raises significant national security concerns,” the senators said in the letter.
Ms Warren and other Democratic senators have repeatedly raised questions about World Liberty Financial, which was founded two months before Mr Trump’s November 2024 victory in the US presidential election, and potential conflicts of interest.
The firm was announced by businessman Steve Witkoff, who is now a key Trump envoy.
Mr Trump’s aides have said he has handed over control of his business ventures, which are being reviewed by outside ethics lawyers.
Ms Warren and Mr Kim said CFIUS had a “clear mandate to address potential national security risks from foreign investments, including transactions that could allow foreign governments like China or the UAE to access critical technology or the sensitive personal data of US citizens”.
They said the reported deal raised questions about whether the UAE or China might be able to access any of the “sensitive personal information” that World Liberty Financial says it collects, they wrote.
The Wall Street Journal in January reported that G42, a company backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who manages the UAE’s largest wealth fund and is a member of the Gulf nation’s royal family, bought the stake in World Liberty Financial days before Mr Trump began his second term in January 2025.
Months later, the Trump administration approved the sale of advanced artificial intelligence chips to the UAE.
World Liberty is behind the stablecoin USD1, which is pegged to the US dollar and backed by short-term US government Treasuries, US dollar deposits and other cash equivalents.
The company counts Mr Trump and Mr Witkoff as co-founders emeritus, and is run by members of the Trump and Witkoff families.
Ms Warren and Mr Kim noted that US intelligence had long warned that G42 may have provided technology to assist China’s military. REUTERS
