Bondi, Merkley tussle over Trump meme coin dinner
Attorney General Pam Bondi tussled with Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Wednesday as he pressed the head of the Department of Justice (DOJ) over foreign influence concerns related to President Trump's meme coin dinner.
Merkley has repeatedly voiced concerns about Trump's involvement in the crypto space, including the dinner the president hosted for the top 220 investors in his $TRUMP token last month.
'I want to know if, when the president held his dinner for 220 individuals who purchased the most of his meme coins, were there foreign interests attending that dinner?' he asked Bondi, who appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday.
At least one notable foreign figure attended the dinner: Tron founder Justin Sun, who bought millions of dollars' worth of Trump's meme coin.
The attorney general pushed back on Merkley's question, underscoring that she was there before the panel to discuss her agency's budget.
'Senator, we're here to talk about the Department of Justice and my budget for the upcoming year,' she said. 'I would think that you would want to talk about the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, who was living in Oregon, one of the top leaders. I would think that that's what you would want to talk about with me.'
Bondi appeared to be referring to the arrest of a man from Salem, Ore., last month, who is accused of leading a drug trafficking operation with connections to the Sinaloa Cartel.
Merkley accused the attorney general of avoiding his question, arguing that those who attended Trump's dinner sought to influence U.S. policy.
'This solicitation of investments in his personal product, his meme coin, led to many people who were coming from foreign countries attending that dinner,' he said. 'Don't you think the American people have a right to know? You said yourself you're very concerned about foreign influence on our government.'
She, in turn, slammed Merkley's comments as 'wildly offensive.'
'Senator, it is wildly offensive that you would accuse President Trump of not protecting American interests in our country, when he is the president that has shut down our borders, unlike Joe Biden,' Bondi said.
'President Trump has done everything to make America safe and … keep America safe,' she added. 'You're trying to play a gotcha question at a budget hearing when you have murders left and right in your state, violent crimes, and we are doing everything we can to help your liberal state.'
Merkley also raised concerns about the stablecoin released by World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture launched by Trump and his sons last fall. The stablecoin was used to complete a high-profile $2 billion transaction between an Emirati firm and the crypto exchange Binance.
Trump and his family have continued to expand their involvement in the industry throughout his second term, as his administration pushes to pass long-sought digital asset legislation.
Beyond World Liberty Financial and the meme coin, Trump Media & Technology Group has also moved into the crypto space, raising $2.5 billion to create a bitcoin reserve and preparing to launch several new crypto-related assets.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
20 minutes ago
- New York Post
Miranda Devine: Trump-derangement syndrome drives deep state leakers, CNN to treasonous lengths to deny prez a victory
How deranged are the Trump-deranged? Are the deep state leakers and their Democrat media mouthpieces so blinded by their hatred for the president that they will go to treasonous lengths just to deny him a victory. Or are they simply hellbent on provoking a full-scale war with Iran? CNN's exclusive report of a leaked top secret US intelligence assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency Tuesday suggested that the weekend B-2 bunker buster sortie in Iran was a flop. This conveniently contradicted Trump's claim that it was a 'spectacular military success' that had 'completely and totally obliterated' Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities and overshadowed the startlingly good news that the president had somehow pulled off a cease-fire between Iran and Israel, which was still holding more than 40 hours later, when we went to press. If the aim of CNN and its toxic leakers was to enrage Trump, it worked, with the president venting ever since on social media, on Air Force One to the traveling press corps and in a press conference in The Hague where he called CNN 'fake news.' He has a point. Among the intelligence community, regard for DIA analysis is so low that the nickname for the agency is 'Do It Again.' The CNN exclusive was written by none other than Natasha Bertrand, the same CIA stenographer who scooped the dishonest Dirty 51 letter by 51 former intelligence officials back in October 2020 falsely claiming that Hunter Biden's laptop was Russian disinformation. More on her later. Every week, Post columnist Miranda Devine sits down for exclusive and candid conversations with the most influential disruptors in Washington. Subscribe here! Dishonest spin The FBI is hot on the trail of the leaker or leakers of the DIA report, with US special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff accusing CNN's anonymous deep state sources of 'treason.' But CNN's dishonest spin of the intelligence assessment was as egregious. The DIA came out later to say it was a 'preliminary, low confidence' assessment done in the early hours after the strike and that the analysis was so equivocal that it said the impact of the strikes could be 'limited or it could be very severe,' as Trump told reporters at The Hague Wednesday. CNN just ignored the uncertain nature of the DIA findings and failed to report the contradictory assessments within the report that suggested Trump was right. But never mind. CNN's misleading reporting, soon amplified by The New York Times, gave the rest of the Resistance media hours of gleeful raining on Trump's parade. God forbid that their audience consider Trump might be a step closer to achieving the ever elusive peace in the Middle East. The same Negative Nellies, now chortling that boastful Trump had failed to set back Iran's nuclear ambitions more than a couple of months, were claiming last week that the president was exaggerating the threat because Iran was nowhere near getting nuclear capability. They can't make up their minds because they don't have any thoughts of their own other than whatever Trump says they're against. Within a day, the CIA, the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission and even Iranian assessments contradicted the CNN story with battlefield assessments involving actual on-the-ground human and signal intelligence from Iran to say the US strike on Iran's underground Fordow nuclear was 'devastating.' Iran's Foreign Ministry admitted its nuclear sites were 'badly damaged.' Get Miranda's latest take Sign up for Devine Online, the newsletter from Miranda Devine Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Want even more news? Check out more newsletters 'Critical infrastructure' The IAEC said Operation Midnight Hammer's 13.6-ton Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker busters dropped on the underground Fordow plant had 'destroyed the site's critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility totally inoperable. We assess that the American strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran's military nuclear program, has set back Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years.' Another post-attack assessment, by the nonpartisan US Institute for Science and International Security, a nonprofit aimed at stopping the spread of nuclear weapons, drew similar conclusions, while warning that 'with residual stocks of 60% and hidden centrifuges, Iran retains an ability to breakout and produce weapon-grade uranium. '[But] considering the damage to Iran's three known enrichment facilities, the destruction of Iran's centrifuge manufacturing capabilities, its uranium conversion facility, uranium metal production plant, and other facilities involved in its nuclear weaponization process, reconstituting these capabilities will take significant time, investment, and energy to return to its previous state before the war or build nuclear weapons. Iran has likely lost close to 20,000 centrifuges at Natanz and Fordow, creating a major bottleneck in any reconstitution effort.' The full battleground assessment is still to come, but Iran is on notice that any further attempts to get its hands on nuclear weapons will be met with further strikes. What's most intriguing about this saga is the media's complicity with rogue elements of the intelligence community in the ongoing treasonous sabotage of Donald Trump's presidencies. Bertrand, CNN's Pentagon correspondent, is not really a journalist in the traditional sense but more a conduit for the laundering of get-Trump CIA narratives. At 33, the Vassar College graduate has had a meteoric rise through the ranks of multiple high-profile media organizations, after well-connected internships at The Atlantic and the Council on Foreign Relations. Bogus reporting She has been at the center of all the bogus Russiagate reporting about Trump, beginning with the fake Steele Dossier, aka 'pee tape,' during her time at Business Insider and later at The Atlantic and Politico, where she was national security correspondent by the tender age of 26. She was quickly rewarded for her unverified beat-ups on MSNBC, where she became a paid contributor. The fact that most of her reporting was later debunked or proven to be misleading did nothing to hurt her career. Quite the opposite. She was rewarded for never admitting she was wrong, including when the Mueller Report debunked Russiagate and when her CIA-sourced story (designed to sabotage Trump's plan to withdraw from Afghanistan in his first term), that Russia had paid bounties to the Taliban for the death of US soldiers, fell apart. 'Even a cursory review of Bertrand's prolific output reveals an endless array of gossip, conspiracy and speculative assertions masquerading as journalism,' independent journalist Glenn Greenwald once wrote. 'There was arguably nobody in media other than Rachel Maddow who promoted and ratified that [Russiagate] hoax as aggressively, uncritically and persistently as Bertrand.' Even Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple, no Trump fan, has criticized Bertrand for her 'thumb-on-scale speculation' and 'boosterism' of the Steele Dossier in an article titled: 'How Politico's Natasha Bertrand bootstrapped dossier credulity into MSNBC gig.' Until now, Bertrand and her employers have been rewarded for their uncritical promotion of malign CIA saboteurs. But the plummeting ratings at CNN and the Resistance media's collective loss of public trust suggest their time is running out. And finally, the leakers face the real possibility of being outed and held to account.
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump Hails NATO Spending Plan, Says With Them ‘All The Way'
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump expressed support for NATO, praising its moves to bolster defense spending as the pact's leaders look to secure a US commitment to the alliance. Bezos Wedding Draws Protests, Soul-Searching Over Tourism in Venice US Renters Face Storm of Rising Costs US State Budget Wounds Intensify From Trump, DOGE Policy Shifts Commuters Are Caught in Johannesburg's Taxi Feuds as Transit Lags 'We're with them all the way,' Trump said at the NATO summit at The Hague as he met with the alliance's secretary general, Mark Rutte. 'I mean, if you take a look at the numbers, we're with them, and they're very big things to announce today,' Trump said about NATO member's plans to formalize increasing defense spending to 5% of GDP. 'I don't know if you've taken the vote or you're going to take the vote, but I've been asking them to go up to 5% for a number of years, and they're going up to 5%.' The president, however, did not specifically mention Article 5, and his comments fall short of the unequivocal commitment to NATO's mutual defense obligations that the president has questioned. The two-day summit in the Netherlands has been dominated by efforts to ensure the US remains engaged with the transatlantic alliance as it faces one of its most challenging periods. The alliance is facing Russia's war in Ukraine, which is now well into its fourth year, and growing concerns that the US is looking to pullback weapons and troops from Europe. Explainer: How Trump's Spurning of Allies Is Transforming NATO Article 5, which requires members to defend each other from attack, is seen as a sacrosanct pillar of the NATO alliance. But Trump has long cast doubt on whether he would be prepared to go to defend fellow members in the event of war. Earlier: Trump Keeps NATO on Edge as Rutte Puts on Charm Offensive Trump did so again on Tuesday — while he was flying to the conference — telling reporters that there were 'numerous definitions' to Article 5 and sidestepping questions about honoring US commitments. And the president on social media posted a poll showing most of his supporters would approve if he decided to withdraw from NATO. Still, NATO leaders sought to project confidence that the US would back its allies ahead of their discussions with the US president. Rutte told reporters he was convinced that the US is 'totally committed' to Article 5, and praised Trump again for pressuring the member states to move on ramping up defense spending. The former Dutch prime minister has been fighting to stop the summit from spinning out of control and has repeatedly sought to flatter Trump for getting allies to reach the 5% target. Still the path has been anything but smooth with a standoff with Spain almost unraveling the conference. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has balked at the 5% figure — which is split into 3.5% for core defense and 1.5% in additional defense-related spending — and won an exemption for his country to determine its own path to reach weapons and troop targets. Spain's economy minister, Carlos Cuerpo, has said they will increase defense expenditures as much as necessary to achieve NATO's military goals but resisted signing onto the topline number. That's drawn sharp criticism from both Trump and his advisers as well as other NATO leaders. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the exemption a 'big problem' in an interview with Politico. 'I don't think that the agreement that Spain has reached is sustainable, and frankly it puts them in a very tough spot with regards to their other allies and partners,' Rubio said. Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever said the same interpretation of the rules should apply to all members. 'The interpretation of Spain is that they can realize the capabilities without doing 3.5% of GDP. This remains to be seen. If this is their interpretation, it is everybody's interpretation,' he said at the summit, highlighting the frustration over the issue. Belgium has traditionally been a laggard in defense spending within the alliance. Earlier: NATO Leaders Play Down Concern Over Trump's Defense Commitment Asked about Spain's resistance to the 5% target, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis simply noted that Greece is already spending more than 3% of GDP on defense. 'The point of an alliance is to make sure there's a fair burden sharing, that there is no sense that certain countries are sort of free-riding on the defense commitments of other countries,' he added. The US commitment to the alliance had increasingly become a source of concern in allied capitals as Trump seeks to force a peace deal on Ukraine and leave much of the responsibility for maintaining it onto Europe. The president has assailed military allies, accusing them of relying on Washington to bear the burden of defense spending and contributing too little to collective security. Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who played golf with Trump in Florida for several hours earlier this year, also pushed back against criticism that the US president was questioning his country's commitment to NATO's mutual defense. 'I don't think President Trump is relativizing Article 5 and golf is a good way to discuss business,' he said. --With assistance from Dasha Afanasieva and Suzanne Lynch. (Updates with additional details, background from paragraphs 10-17) Inside Gap's Last-Ditch, Tariff-Addled Turnaround Push Luxury Counterfeiters Keep Outsmarting the Makers of $10,000 Handbags How to Steal a House Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros Is Mark Cuban the Loudmouth Billionaire that Democrats Need for 2028? ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'Integrity And Faith': Mike Pence Commends Convicted Jan. 6 Rioter Who Refused Pardon
Former Vice President Mike Pence recently penned a letter to a woman convicted for her role in the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot, praising her decision to turn down a presidential pardon from Donald Trump. Pamela Hemphill, a self-described 'ex-MAGA Granny,' took to social media Tuesday to reveal that the former veep declared that her 'honorable decision speaks volumes' about her 'commitment to the Rule of Law.' 'I am certain that your willingness to accept responsibility has inspired many Americans by your example of integrity and faith,' read the letter dated just one day after Hemphill explained why she refused the pardon on CNN. Earlier this month, Hemphill — who spent two months in a federal prison and remains on probation for a misdemeanor count of demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building — told CNN's Pamela Brown that she didn't want to be part of Trump's 'narrative,' saying that accepting a pardon would be a 'slap' in the face to Capitol police officers and the rule of law. 'The cost of continuing to lie or be dishonest with yourself, it's not worth it. It's not worth — anything they want to do to me, it's OK. I'm not worried about nothing,' she explained at the time. Hemphill on Tuesday reacted to Pence's message on X, formerly Twitter. 'It's been a long and hard journey, but this letter I received today has made every heartache, smear campaign and sleepless night more than worth it!' she wrote. It's been a long and hard journey, but this letter I received today has made every heartache, smear campaign and sleepless night more than worth it! — Pam Hemphill (@PamHemphill79) June 25, 2025 Pence — the target of Trump supporters' 'hang Mike Pence' chants as gallows stood outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 — has repeatedly defended his decision to certify the 2020 presidential election and has continued to knock Trump despite attending his inauguration in January. The former vice president, who has previously claimed that Trump's 'reckless' words endangered his family, told CNN last month that he was 'deeply disappointed' in the president for sending the 'wrong message' by pardoning some 1,500 rioters on the first day of his second term. Among those who got pardons were hundreds of rioters convicted of assaulting officers, about 1,000 nonviolent offenders and around 200 people accused of assaulting police. A number of those pardoned have sincebeenrearrested. Trump Court Pick For Lifetime Seat Refuses To Say If Biden Won 2020 Election Trump Melts Down Over '100% Communist Lunatic' Zohran Mamdani's Win Trump Crashes Out Over Leaked Iran Strike Report: 'Scum... Scum... Scum... Scum'
