- Rep. Ro Khanna plans a bill banning elected officials, including President Trump, from trading crypto and stocks.
- Khanna accuses Trump of corruption over his pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao.
California Representative Ro Khanna is set to introduce a bill that will prohibit elected officials, such as President Donald Trump and his family, to trade cryptocurrencies and stocks. The Democratic legislator raised the issue of possible conflicts of interest in a recent television appearance, targeting Trump in his relationships with World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency project. Khanna suggested that the presence of financial relationships between government officials and digital assets opens up corruption opportunities and cited recent presidential decisions as an example of problematic relationships.
Allegations of Corruption and Financial Conflicts
Khanna condemned the pardoning of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao by Trump, indicating that the move was politically motivated by corruption and not justice. The congressman alleged that Zhao was treated well due to the fact that Binance is a sponsor of World Liberty Financial which is allegedly enriching the family of Trump as long as he is the president.
CZ had earlier admitted to breaking the banking laws by not having appropriate anti-money laundering mechanisms in place at his cryptocurrency exchange when he was in charge. In recent remarks, Representative Maxine Waters has raised the same concerns regarding the seeming links between presidential activities and cryptocurrency business interests.
Eric Trump has repeatedly refuted that his father has any association with World Liberty Financial, saying the president is solely concerned with running the country. The younger Trump claims that his father has no involvement in the running of their family business, which is contrary to claims of being financially involved in cryptocurrency projects.
Congressional Trading Under Scrutiny
The proposal by Khanna comes in the context of wider discussions on the topic of investment restrictions among government officials, and a bipartisan congressional stock trading bill is soon to be voted on.
The trading history of the congressman, however, makes his stand a bit complicated since government records show that he has had a lot of personal trading amounting to more than $80 million this year. Since his election to Congress in 2017, Khanna has made over 3500 stock dealings at a total of about $580 million. His portfolio is mostly focused on financial services, technology firms, and healthcare, which brings up the issue of possible conflicts when he is promoting trading limits.
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