'Influence peddling': CNBC hosts hammer Don Jr. on Trump family crypto schemes

CNBC hosts Joe Kernen and Andrew Ross Sorkin pressed Donald Trump Jr. about the opportunity for "influence peddling" in the Trump administration through his family's cryptocurrency ventures.

"Is that okay for your dad to have a meme coin?" Kernen asked the president's son in a Monday interview.

"Of course," Trump replied, noting the family was "all-in on crypto" because it had been "debanked" by various main street financial institutions. "We got into politics, and all of a sudden, they wouldn't take your call, you couldn't get financing."

"The answer is crypto," he insisted. "So we got into crypto, not because it was like, hey, this is the next cool thing."

"So let me ask you a question about the meme coin, okay?" Sorkin said. "I want your father and this White House to have all the credibility in the world. And invariably, people are always going to question whatever any president does."

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"But one of the things that people do demonstrably question is that, say, this meme coin that your father has, it creates the opportunity for foreign adversaries, people in the U.S., anybody who wants to effectively funnel money to the president," the CNBC host added.

"It's as bad as Hunter's art or the Clinton foundation with her getting back into the White House," Kernen pointed out, adding that the $TRUMP coin "greases the skids for influence peddling."

"So I wasn't involved in the meme coin," Trump replied dismissively.

"You're not taking responsibility for the meme coin?" Sorkin responded.

"No, I'm just saying the reality of the meme coin is it's sort of a proof of concept that the crypto world understands exactly what I was talking about earlier," Trump added. "That the markets may not necessarily be fair. The traditional banking system may not be fair to them. So it's a proof of concept of what I think we can move the needle in crypto."

Watch the video below from CNBC.