'Really hard to defend for his supporters': Ex-Trump aide skewers president's move

Former aide to President Donald Trump, Alyssa Farah Griffin, hammered his controversial move with his personal cryptocurrency.

“So it was the hottest ticket in town and all you had to do to get an invite was spend millions on President Trump's personal cryptocurrency,” CNN anchor John Berman said.

“The president's motorcade drove past protesters on his way to host a private gala for the top investors in his meme coin,” Berman added, “and if you act now, his crypto websites said White House tour, though it later dropped the White House from that description to offer a more vague, special VIP tour.”

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The anchor brought in Farah Griffin for her thoughts, and she obliterated the idea.

“This is really hard to justify, even among the president's supporters, because it feels so blatant,” Farah Griffin said.

“Frankly, he was somebody who got a lot of support from sort of the cryptocurrency community during the campaign, but then when he came out with this meme coin, a lot of them were really disappointed in him because it felt like it undervalued the argument around the move toward crypto.” She later added, “This feels a lot more direct pay to play because it's something he created in the lead up to going into the White House. He's, you know, offering perks and access to the White House. So I think even with Republicans, it's kind of hard to defend.”

Berman brought up several GOP members who have criticized the president for the move.

“This is also just pay to pay. I mean, this is just flat out a way to inflate meme coin offering tours of the White House,” Berman said. He did not ask a question when Farah Griffin chimed in.

“Yeah, and I would note Senator [Cynthia] Lummis (R-WY) was also the chair of the crypto caucus within the Senate,” the former Trump aide said.

“She's a big supporter of crypto herself. So I think there's also probably a policy element of that with her criticisms of it's kind of a silly and unserious thing, these meme coins and people who care about that within that community really don't like that he's doing this.”

She added, “That's very clearly what it is about access. It's about pay to play, and I think it speaks to the fact that Donald Trump doesn't really feel held back by some of the ethical standards that perhaps those around him wanted to enforce in the first term. He feels very empowered that he's going to do things his way. He's not going to be as concerned about the good old-fashioned norms.”

You can watch the full interaction below or here.

- YouTubeyoutu.be