WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Chris Coons (D-DE), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) released the following statement in response to reporting that a company backed by a senior United Arab Emirates official secretly purchased a major stake in a Trump-family cryptocurrency venture days before President Trump’s Inauguration and just months before the Administration approved the sale of advanced U.S. artificial intelligence chips for the UAE.
“This reporting lays out a deeply troubling pattern of corruption and self-dealing at the very top of our government. While American families are struggling with the rising cost of groceries, housing and health care, President Trump appears to have been enriching his own family to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars through secretive deals with foreign power brokers who have significant business before the U.S. government. That is not public service—it is a pay-to-play scheme that puts personal profit ahead of the national interest.
“The national security implications are just as alarming. For years, administrations of both parties have warned about advanced U.S. technology flowing through the UAE and ultimately ending up in China. Similarly, there has long been a bipartisan consensus on the need to prevent sensitive AI chips and other critical technologies from strengthening Beijing’s military and surveillance capabilities. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democrats will use every tool at our disposal now—and when we are in the majority— to bring full transparency and accountability to the American people. The presidency is not a business opportunity for those who hold it, and Congress has a responsibility to ensure U.S. foreign policy is guided by the interests and national security of the American people—not by who is willing to write the biggest check.”
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