Trump's Pick to Run CFTC Touts His Career in Crypto to Lawmakers
Brian Quintenz, President Donald Trump's pick to lead the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, plans to tell lawmakers he is uniquely qualified to head the derivatives regulator as Congress considers giving it more authority over digital assets
The crypto lobbyist and former CFTC commissioner will say he is well versed in not just the policy issues that affect farmers and ranchers using futures to hedge price risks but also emerging technologies like blockchain and cryptocurrency.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
14 minutes ago
- Associated Press
California governor says 'democracy is under assault' by Trump as feds intervene in LA protests
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Calling President Donald Trump a threat to the American way of life, Gov. Gavin Newsom depicted the federal military intervention in Los Angeles as the onset of a much broader effort by Trump to overturn political and cultural norms at the heart of the nation's democracy. In a speech Tuesday evening, the potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate said the arrival of National Guard and Marine troops in the city at Trump's direction was not simply about quelling protests that followed a series of immigration raids by federal authorities. Instead, he said, it was part of a calculated 'war' intended to upend the foundations of society and concentrate power in the White House. 'California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next,' a somber Newsom warned, seated before the U.S. and California flags. 'Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived.' As head of the heavily Democratic state known as the epicenter of the so-called Trump resistance, Newsom and the Republican president have long been adversaries. But the governor's speech delivered in prime time argued that Trump was not just a threat to democracy, but was actively working to break down its guardrails that reach back to the nation's founding. ″He's declared a war. A war on culture, on history, on science, on knowledge itself,' Newsom said. 'He's delegitimizing news organizations, and he's assaulting the First Amendment.' Newsom added that Trump is attacking law firms and the judicial branch — 'the foundations of an orderly and civil society.' 'It's time for all of us to stand up,' Newsom said, urging any protests to be peaceful. 'What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty, your silence, to be complicit in this moment. Do not give in to him.' His speech came the same day that Newsom asked a court to put an emergency stop to the military helping federal immigration agents, with some guardsmen now standing in protective gauntlet around agents as they carried out arrests. The judge chose not to rule immediately, giving the Trump administration several days to continue those activities before a hearing Thursday. Trump has activated more than 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines over the objections of city and state leaders, though the Marines have not yet been spotted in Los Angeles and Guard troops have had limited engagement with protesters. They were originally deployed to protect federal buildings. Newsom's speech capped several days of acidic exchanges between Trump and Newsom, that included the president appearing to endorse Newsom's arrest if he interfered with federal immigration enforcement. 'I think it's great. Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing,' Trump told reporters. Over the years, Trump has threatened to intercede in California's long-running homeless crisis, vowed to withhold federal wildfire aid as political leverage in a dispute over water rights, called on police to shoot people robbing stores and warned residents that 'your children are in danger' because of illegal immigration. Trump relishes insulting the two-term governor and former San Francisco mayor — frequently referring to him as Gov. 'New-scum' — and earlier this year faulted the governor for Southern California's deadly wildfires. Trump has argued that the city was in danger of being overrun by violent protesters, while Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have called the federal intervention an unneeded — and potentially dangerous — overreaction. The demonstrations have been mostly concentrated in the city's downtown hub. Demonstrations have spread to other cities in the state and nationwide, including Dallas and Austin, Texas, Chicago and New York City, where a thousand people rallied and multiple arrests were made. Trump left open the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act, which authorizes the president to deploy military forces inside the U.S. to suppress rebellion or domestic violence or to enforce the law in certain situations. It's one of the most extreme emergency powers available to a U.S. president. 'If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We'll see,' he said from the Oval Office.
Washington Post
16 minutes ago
- Washington Post
A federal appeals court is set to hear arguments in Trump's bid to erase his hush money conviction
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump's quest to erase his criminal conviction heads to a federal appeals court Wednesday. It's one way he's trying to get last year's hush money verdict overturned. A three-judge panel is set to hear arguments in Trump's long-running fight to get the New York case moved from state court to federal court, where he could then try to have the verdict thrown out on presidential immunity grounds. The Republican is asking the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to intervene after a lower-court judge twice rejected the move. As part of the request, Trump wants the federal appeals court to seize control of the criminal case and then ultimately decide his appeal of the verdict, which is now pending in a state appellate court. The 2nd Circuit should 'determine once and for all that this unprecedented criminal prosecution of a former and current President of the United States belongs in federal court,' Trump's lawyers wrote in a court filing. The Manhattan district attorney's office, which prosecuted Trump's case, wants it to stay in state court. Trump's Justice Department — now partly run by his former criminal defense lawyers — backs his bid to move the case to federal court. If Trump loses, he could go to the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump was convicted in May 2024 of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels, whose affair allegations threatened to upend his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump denies her claim and said he did nothing wrong. It was the only one of his four criminal cases to go to trial. Trump's lawyers first sought to move the case to federal court following his March 2023 indictment, arguing that federal officers including former presidents have the right to be tried in federal court for charges arising from 'conduct performed while in office.' Part of the criminal case involved checks he wrote while he was president. They tried again after his conviction, arguing that Trump's historic prosecution violated his constitutional rights and ran afoul of the Supreme Court's presidential immunity ruling , which was decided about a month after the hush money trial ended. The ruling reins in prosecutions of ex-presidents for official acts and restricts prosecutors in pointing to official acts as evidence that a president's unofficial actions were illegal. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied both requests, ruling in part that Trump's conviction involved his personal life, not his work as president. In a four-page ruling, Hellerstein wrote that nothing about the high court's ruling affected his prior conclusion that hush money payments at issue in Trump's case 'were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority.' Trump's lawyers argue that prosecutors rushed to trial instead of waiting for the Supreme Court's presidential immunity decision, and that prosecutors erred by showing jurors evidence that should not have been allowed under the ruling, such as former White House staffers describing how Trump reacted to news coverage of the hush money deal and tweets he sent while president in 2018. Trump's former criminal defense lawyer Todd Blanche is now the deputy U.S. attorney general, the Justice Department's second-in-command. Another of his lawyers, Emil Bove, has a high-ranking Justice Department position. The trial judge, Juan M. Merchan, rejected Trump's requests to throw out the conviction on presidential immunity grounds and sentenced him on Jan. 10 to an unconditional discharge, leaving his conviction intact but sparing him any punishment. Appearing by video at his sentencing, Trump called the case a 'political witch hunt,' 'a weaponization of government' and 'an embarrassment to New York.'
Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
BOJ to postpone rate hike to Q1 next year, tiny majority of economists say: Reuters poll
By Satoshi Sugiyama TOKYO (Reuters) -The Bank of Japan will forego another interest rate hike this year due to uncertainty over U.S. tariff policy, according to a slight majority of economists in a Reuters poll who expect the next 25-basis-point increase in early 2026. Japan's central bank will slow the pace of tapering its government bond purchases from next fiscal year, a majority also said, while three in four surveyed expect the government to cut down on issuance of super-long bonds. The latest results reflect policymakers' apprehension at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump's erratic tariff policies are threatening the economic outlook and as investors are increasingly concerned about Japan's public finances. The BOJ is still pushing for tighter monetary conditions, contrasting with its peers tilting for rate cuts, with its governor Kazuo Ueda stressing the central bank's readiness to keep raising interest rates if underlying inflation approaches its 2% target. "If trade negotiations between the United States and other countries progress, global economic activity is likely to pick up," said Takumi Tsunoda, senior economist at Shinkin Central Bank Research Institute. "The timing of policy interest rate hikes is now more likely to be delayed compared to previous projections, but the BOJ is expected to implement an additional rate hike in the first quarter of 2026." None of the 60 economists in the June 2-10 survey expected the BOJ to raise rates at its upcoming policy meeting on June 16-17. Specifically, 52% of economists, 30 of 58, expected borrowing costs to stay at 0.50% at year-end, the reverse of a poll in May when 52% expected rates at 0.75% by end-2025. Interest rate futures are only pricing in about 17 basis points more of tightening from the BOJ by year-end. More than three-quarters of respondents, 40 of 51, now expect at least one 25-basis-point increase by end-March, the poll showed. Of 35 economists who specified a month for when the BOJ will next hike rates, January 2025 was the top choice at 37%, followed by 23% for October this year and 9% saying March 2025. The BOJ exited a massive stimulus programme in March last year and pushed up short-term interest rates to 0.25% in July and 0.50% in January. Just over half of respondents, 17 of 31, said the BOJ would decelerate its pace of tapering JGB purchases from the current roughly 400 billion yen per quarter beyond April next year. Of those respondents the quarterly taper size prediction ranged from 200 billion yen to 370 billion yen. The BOJ began tapering its huge bond buying last year to wean the economy off decades of massive stimulus even though it still owns roughly half of outstanding JGBs. Three-quarters of economists, 21 of 28, said the government would trim issuance of super-long bonds while the rest said the amount would not change. Yields on super-long JGBs rose to record levels last month due to dwindling demand from traditional buyers like life insurers and concern over steadily rising debt levels. Reuters reported on Monday the government is considering buying back some super-long bonds it issued at low interest rates on top of an expected government plan to trim issuance of super-long bonds in the wake of sharp rises in yields. Seventeen said the issuance of 30-year JGBs would be reduced, followed by 16 selecting 40-year and 10 choosing 20-year bonds. Survey respondents were allowed to give multiple responses. "With the auction results consistently weak, the finance ministry is facing strong pressure to reduce the amount of super-long JGBs issued from July onwards," said Kazutaka Maeda, economist at Meiji Yasuda Research Institute. (Other stories from the June Reuters global economic poll) Melden Sie sich an, um Ihr Portfolio aufzurufen.
