The White House is defending President Donald Trump from allegations that he is profiting from being president.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was first asked about Trump promoting his meme coin, $Trump, on his social media accounts. The group operating the coin is offering buyers the opportunity to attend a dinner with the president on May 22 at his golf club in Virginia.
The coin has already collected $320 million since it was announced in January before Trump’s inauguration, prompting Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and others to introduce legislation that would prevent presidents and officials in Senate-confirmed positions from issuing, sponsoring, or endorsing specific financial instruments.
“The president is abiding by all conflict of interest laws,” Leavitt told reporters on Friday. “The president has been incredibly transparent with his own personal financial obligations throughout the years. The president is a successful businessman, and I think, frankly, it’s one of the reasons that people reelected him.”
Leavitt demurred when pressed on whether the dinner, which foreign nationals could attend, was a chance for coin owners to lobby Trump about public policy.
“Look, I can assure you, the president acts with only the interests of the American public in mind, putting our country first and doing what’s best for our country,” she said. “Full stop. Best intentions.”
However, Leavitt’s protestations did not stop questions concerning ethics, particularly ahead of Trump’s trip to the Middle East next week. The trip comes shortly after his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, embarked on similar tours of the region and Europe to underscore the family’s business interests.
Those interests include a billion-dollar luxury hotel in the United Arab Emirates and a villa complex in Qatar, as well as a UAE-supported venture capital fund using a currency provided by the Trump cryptocurrency firm World Liberty Financial. The president will be in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE next week.
“It’s frankly ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit,” Leavitt said. “He left a life of luxury and a life of running a very successful real estate empire for public service, not just once, but twice.”
Leavitt remained adamant that Trump “is a president who has actually lost money for being president of the United States.”
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“I don’t remember the same type of questions being asked of my predecessor about a career politician who is clearly profiting off of his office,” she said, referring to former President Joe Biden. “That is not what President Trump does, and this White House holds ourselves to the highest political standards.”
Biden was criticized for his family’s business interests, specifically those related to his son Hunter Biden, who was investigated by House Republicans for his foreign dealings in Ukraine and China.
