Donald Trump made billions off crypto schemes while he ran the country, says Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the Democrat expected to chair the House Oversight Committee. Garcia says the committee's first investigation will go after “the Trump family and the clear corruption.”
On election night Garcia posted two words on X: “Lawyer up.” He described that post, and laid out his target list, in a Nov. 5 interview with Liz Landers of PBS NewsHour. In his words: “When you have the president making billions from these crypto schemes, you have Jared Kushner getting $2 billion from the Saudis for his investment firm just after leaving the White House. Don Jr., his entire wedding being paid for by a Russian oligarch, him sitting on boards of companies that get contracts from the Pentagon.” Those are Garcia's allegations. BTP opened no record this week that confirms the $2 billion, the wedding payment or the board seats. Subpoenas are how they get tested.
Reuters reported on Nov. 5 that Democrats plan to investigate Trump deals with an eye on the 2028 race. Forbes reported the same day that the targets include Epstein, Don Jr.'s wedding and Trump's crypto businesses.
Within hours the Trump crypto machine was in trouble. Reuters reported early on Nov. 6 that Trump-backed World Liberty Financial launched a buyback of its WLFI token. Gizmodo framed it as a buyback after a “post-election nose dive.” Investing.com reported that the Trump memecoin slumped to a record low after the midterm loss. A Yahoo Finance headline said bitcoin closed above $80,000 after the sweep while Trump-branded assets crashed, which points to a Trump-specific drop rather than a market-wide one. The reports BTP read give no size for the buyback and do not say who sold into it.
The family's other crypto bets kept moving. Trump Media moved 4,259 bitcoin, Yahoo Finance reported Nov. 5. The outlets disagree on what that was worth: CoinDesk put it at $342 million, a separate Yahoo Finance headline at $434 million. BTP has not resolved the gap. Trump-linked American Bitcoin swung to a $126 million profit but missed revenue estimates, CoinDesk reported.
Who pays: the retail buyers holding Trump-branded tokens through the crash, and, as Garcia argues, families paying more at the supermarket “yet they're seeing the Trumps get richer.” Garcia is a partisan Democrat and his figures are allegations, not findings. A buyback can also be pitched as support for holders.
Garcia says that if Attorney General Todd Blanche stonewalls subpoenas, Democrats will use “not just criminal contempt, but civil contempt.” Watch for the Oversight Committee's first document requests when the new Congress convenes in January. The open question: how much is World Liberty Financial spending on the buyback, and who got to sell into it?