Trump Backs Most of Bipartisan Crypto Ethics Plan Ahead of Key Senate Vote
Trump has agreed to most of a bipartisan ethics proposal in a sweeping crypto bill, including a state attorneys general enforcement role, ahead of a key vote.
President Donald Trump has agreed to a substantial portion of a stringent ethics proposal attached to a broad cryptocurrency bill that is headed for a key vote this week, a senior Republican official involved in the negotiations said.
The legislation originally included a provision barring all federally elected officials, their spouses and federal judges from issuing digital assets. A group of Democrats, along with Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, argued that the measure did not go far enough in addressing conflict-of-interest concerns tied to Trump's cryptocurrency holdings. Their support would be needed to move the bill forward in a crucial vote scheduled for Tuesday.
Tillis and Senator Ruben Gallego, Democrat of Arizona, joined by several other Democrats, had pushed for language empowering state attorneys general to enforce the law alongside the Justice Department. In private discussions, White House officials had expressed reservations about granting state attorneys general that authority, contending that Democratic state lawyers could wield it as a political weapon against the president and other Republican officials, and that Republican attorneys general could similarly target elected Democrats, according to two people familiar with the talks.
The senior GOP aide, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said the president had accepted "about 80%" of the Tillis-Gallego proposal, with the state attorneys general provision accounting for most of the remaining gap. An updated version of the bill, set for release later Sunday, will require officials to either divest or place in a blind trust any "significant" financial interest in an entity that issues cryptocurrencies, the aide said.
Trump also agreed to language allowing state attorneys general to sue a crypto exchange if it lists a digital asset that would be barred under the overall bill, according to the aide.
The White House did not respond to an immediate request for comment.