Dem Overseeing ‘Digital Assets' to Hold Luxury Retreat With Crypto Kingpin
Freshman Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego was recently named the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee's new subcommittee on 'digital assets,' which will oversee cryptocurrencies. Next month, Gallego will hold a ritzy donor retreat alongside one of the crypto industry's biggest cheerleaders and investors, Marc Andreessen.
The prolific political blogger Matt Yglesias will be a featured speaker at the Gallego event alongside Andreessen, a co-founder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, according to an invite obtained by Rolling Stone.
The invite suggests donations of $5,000 to attend the retreat, which is set to take place over three days at the luxury oasis L'Auberge de Sedona. (The cheapest accommodation available for out-of-state visitors that weekend, according to the resort's website, is $1,809 per night, with a two-night minimum.) Donations will benefit Gallego's leadership PAC, called Juntos PAC.
Representatives for Gallego did not immediately respond to an inquiry from Rolling Stone, asking if the senator thought it was appropriate to hold a fundraising retreat with one of the major funders of a pro-crypto Super PAC while also serving as ranking member on the Senate subcommittee overseeing the industry. (Andreessen Horowitz and Yglesias did not immediately respond to inquiries.)
Andreessen actively advised Donald Trump as he assembled his new pro-crypto administration. (Speaking on Bari Weiss' podcast in December, Andreessen said he'd been spending half his time at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. 'I've been trying to help in as many ways as I can,' he said.) His VC firm recently drew headlines for hiring ex-marine Daniel Penny, who was recently acquitted after choking a homeless man to death on a New York City subway on video.
A crypto industry Super PAC called Protect Progress spent $10 million boosting Gallego's 2024 Senate campaign. Protect Progress and its parent organization, Fairshake, received $138 million last election cycle from Andreessen, co-founder Ben Horowitz, and their firm, which has invested in crypto for years and lobbies extensively on crypto issues.
'The crypto industry has very quickly become one of the major players in the campaign finance system, and crypto money has been deployed in very aggressive and strategic ways,' says Brendan Fischer, a campaign finance lawyer and deputy executive director at the watchdog group Documented. 'Throughout the 2024 cycle, we saw crypto money deployed to take out crypto critics and support crypto backers, and this might be an indication of how crypto not only attacks its enemies, but also also rewards its friends.'
Yglesias, who runs the blog Slow Boring, noted in a 2023 disclosure that he 'knew [Gallego] a little in college' and that he is very close with the senator's former chief of staff.
Gallego recently took over the Arizona Senate seat vacated by Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat-turned-independent. Gallego's entrance into the Senate race was seen as a victory for progressives, who were infuriated by Sinema's repeated efforts to obstruct President Joe Biden's policy agenda.
While Gallego effectively forced her out of the race and into retirement, he ended up campaigning as a moderate — and cozying up to the crypto industry. The freshman senator is now the ranking member on the Senate's subcommittee on digital assets, which has jurisdiction over cryptocurrencies, crypto trading platforms, and the agencies that regulate them.
Sinema, for her part, recently joined the global advisory council of Coinbase, a crypto exchange that invested heavily in the industry Super PACs that supported Gallego's bid.
More from Rolling Stone
Patrick Mahomes Debunks Trump's Weird Lie About His College Career
Kanye West on X: 'Elon Stole My Nazi Swag'
'Thrown Out Like Garbage': Inside the Last Days of USAID
Best of Rolling Stone
The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign
Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal
The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
33 minutes ago
- The Hill
Democrats fend off GOP in San Antonio mayor runoff election
Former Biden administration official Gina Ortiz Jones has won a runoff election in San Antonio's mayoral race, fending off a Republican opponent that the GOP hoped could pull off an upset, Decision Desk HQ projects. Jones defeated former Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos in an officially nonpartisan election that still in practice played out as a partisan election as Jones is a registered Democrat and Pablos is a registered Republican. The two candidates had advanced from the first round of the election in which many competed on the same ballot. Since no candidate received a majority of the vote in that round last month, the top two performing candidates advanced to face each other in the runoff. The city of San Antonio hasn't elected a Republican mayor in more than 20 years, and the past two elections for outgoing Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who has served since 2017, haven't been close. Nirenberg is term-limited from running again after serving four two-year terms. But Republicans had hope that they could notch a win with Pablos, who served as secretary of state for about two years under Gov. Greg Abbott (R). The GOP made some gains in the city in November after three presidential races in a row in which the city swung toward Democrats, though former Vice President Harris still comfortably won the area. Pablos also had a significant fundraising advantage, outraising Jones by a margin of 1.5 to 1, while outside spending from PACs contributed more than triple the amount in favor of Pablos compared to Jones, according to DDHQ. That includes a PAC with ties to Abbott and San Antonio's police union, The Texas Tribune reported. Pablos also picked up an endorsement from the editorial board of the San Antonio Express-News, uncommon for a Republican. But Jones was still the favorite in the Democratic-leaning city, even despite the gains that President Trump and the GOP has made with Hispanic voters recently. She finished first in the first round of voting in May, receiving 27.2 percent of the vote in a crowded field to Pablos's 16.6 percent. Jones previously served as undersecretary of the Air Force during the Biden administration from 2021 to 2023. Before that, she was the Democratic nominee for the House seat in Texas's 23rd Congressional District in 2018 and 2020, losing narrowly both times. She will be San Antonio's third female mayor and the first person to serve a four-year term after voters in the city approved a measure in November extending the mayor's term from two years to four. She will also be the city's first openly lesbian mayor.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Dr. Annie Andrews: 'People in South Carolina are ready for a leader who will fight for them'
Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician from Charleston, recently launched her South Carolina Senate bid with a viral campaign video hitting against her opponent, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Even though a Democrat has not won a U.S. Senate seat in South Carolina in decades, Dr. Andrews says her campaign is 'about inspiring hope for the folks of South Carolina who are tired of being left behind.'
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump deploying California National Guard over governor's objections to LA to quell protests
PARAMOUNT, Calif. (AP) — President Donald Trump is deploying 2,000 California National Guard troops despite the governor's objections to Los Angeles over where protests Saturday led to clashes between immigration authorities and demonstrators. The White House said in a statement Saturday that Trump was deploying the Guardsmen to 'address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester' in California. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, objected to the move and said in a post on X that the move from the Republican president was 'purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions.' PARAMOUNT, Calif. (AP) — Tear gas and smoke filled the air on the southern outskirts of Los Angeles on Saturday as confrontations between immigration authorities and demonstrators extended into a second day, and President Trump warned that the federal government may 'step in and solve the problem.' Gov. Gain Newsom said the federal government was 'moving to take over the California National Guard and deploy 2,000 soldiers' and warned that it would only escalate tensions. Additional details were not immediately available. 'This is the wrong mission and will erode public trust,' Newsom said. deployment. Local authorities 'are able to access law enforcement assistance at a moment's notice,' the governor also said, and 'there is currently no unmet need.' On his Truth Social platform, Trump said: 'the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved' if Newsom and the Los Angeles mayor 'can't do their jobs, which everyone knows they can't.' Border Patrol personnel in riot gear and gas masks stood guard outside an industrial park in the city of Paramount, deploying tear gas as bystanders and protesters gathered on medians and across the street. Some jeered at officers while recording the events on smartphones. 'ICE out of Paramount. We see you for what you are,' a woman said through a megaphone. 'You are not welcome here.' One handheld sign read, 'No Human Being is Illegal.' Smoke rose from burning shrubbery and refuse in the street, and demonstrators kicked at a Border Patrol vehicle. A boulevard was closed to traffic as Border Patrol agents circulated through a community where more than 80% of residents identify themselves as Latino. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted a message on social media addressing 'LA rioters' and warning that interference with immigration enforcement will not be tolerated. 'You will not stop us or slow us down,' Noem said on the X platform. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 'will enforce the law. And if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.' Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers executed search warrants at multiple locations Friday, including outside a clothing warehouse in the fashion district. The action came after a judge found probable cause that the employer was using fictitious documents for some of its workers, according to representatives for Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Attorney's Office. A tense scene unfolded outside as a crowd tried to block agents from driving away. Advocates for immigrants' rights said there were also migration detentions outside Home Depot stores and a doughnut shop. DHS said in a statement that recent ICE operations in Los Angeles resulted in the arrest of 118 immigrants, including five people linked to criminal organizations and people with prior criminal histories. Following the Friday arrests, protesters gathered in the evening outside a federal detention center, chanting, 'Set them free, let them stay!' Some held signs with anti-ICE slogans, and some some scrawled graffiti on the building. Among those arrested at the protests was David Huerta, regional president of the Service Employees International Union. Justice Department spokesperson Ciaran McEvoy confirmed that he was being held Saturday at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles ahead of a scheduled Monday court appearance. It was not clear whether Huerta had legal representation. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for his immediate release. In a social media post, he cited a 'disturbing pattern of arresting and detaining American citizens for exercising their right to free speech.' The immigration arrests come as President Donald Trump and his administration push to fulfill promises of mass deportations across the country. Mayor Karen Bass said the activity was meant to 'sow terror' in the nation's second-largest city. In a statement Saturday, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons chided Bass for the city's response to the protests. 'Mayor Bass took the side of chaos and lawlessness over law enforcement,' Lyons said. 'Make no mistake, ICE will continue to enforce our nation's immigration laws and arrest criminal illegal aliens.'
