President Donald Trump’s crypto czar, South African venture capitalist David Sacks, has pushed the Trump administration to enact several policies that have enriched his Silicon Valley friends – and potentially himself – driving a wedge in MAGA and “alarming” White House officials, The New York Times reported Sunday.
“The tech bros are out of control,” said Steve Bannon, Trump’s former White House chief of staff and MAGA influencer, The Times reported. “They are leading the White House down the road to perdition with this ascendant technocratic oligarchy.”
Sacks is denoted as a special government employee in the Trump administration, meaning he isn’t paid for his government work. Nevertheless, Sacks has made several recommendations that have paid off handsomely for Silicon Valley, and despite warnings from White House officials that some may pose national security risks.
One such recommendation was Sacks’ push for the United States to be able to sell Nvidia chips abroad, a push that ultimately led to a deal to sell 500,000 American-made artificial intelligence chips – the majority of them from Nvidia – to the United Arab Emirates. The deal was approved by Trump, despite it having “alarmed some White House officials” over national security concerns that China may gain access to the technology.
Sacks’ work in the Trump administration has also bolstered his personal standing. The “All-In” podcast, which Sacks hosts, has exploded in popularity since his time in office. The “All-In” podcast saw sales for its annual conference increase from around $6 million to $21 million this year, and in June, the podcast launched its own “All-In”-branded tequila, priced at $1,200 a bottle.
In its official capacity, however, the White House fired back at the Times for its reporting, with White House spokesperson Liz Huston calling Sacks “an invaluable asset” for Trump in a statement to the outlet, and Jessica Hoffman, a spokesperson for Sacks, labeling the “conflict of interest narrative” as “false.”