President Donald Trump is drawing heavy criticism for his upcoming dinner with investors in his crypto currency at one of his family-owned properties.
More than 200 investors in his $TRUMP memecoin will arrive Thursday at his golf club in Virginia after $148 million worth of the collectible tokens to sit down for an exclusive dinner with the president himself, and the top 25 buyers will meet with him beforehand at a private reception, reported Politico.
“The whole week I was talking to my wife and father, ’Wouldn’t it be insane if I get to meet the president of the United States based on a memecoin competition?’” said Morten Christensen, a 39-year-old onetime poker player who now runs a crypto website. “What life is this?”
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Investors were given a short window to buy up $TRUMP memecoins, which have no underlying value, to score an invitation – and generate trading fees for the Trump family and their partners – in what critics describe as an obvious pay-to-play scheme.
“This is the Mount Everest of American corruption,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR). “This isn’t about raising money for a campaign. This is about personal profit, and what he’s selling is influence on himself and his Cabinet and the U.S. government.”
Merkley will attend a protest outside the event organized by progressive watchdog group Public Citizen, and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) will propose legislation banning presidents from offering memecoins in the future.
The White House insisted the president, who once criticized crypto as "a scam," acts only in the public's best interest, but critics say the dinner and the Trump family's other dealings in the cryptocurrency sphere reek of corruption.
“When Hunter Biden was trying to profit off of his family’s name, people legitimately raised questions,” said former Republican congressman Charlie Dent. “I’m not saying Hunter Biden did anything illegal or that any of the Trump family members are doing anything illegal, but it all has a stench to it that turns off a lot of people.”