Democrats Threaten Lawsuits, Join Protests Ahead of Trump Memecoin Dinner

2025-05-24 14:55:12 Primitive Reading

What to know:

Democratic lawmakers continued stating their concerns that Donald Trump's memecoin dinner highlighted his crypto ventures' corruption ahead of the event at the Trump National Golf Club near Washington, D.C. on Thursday night.
A lack of accountability about who was buying these tokens, emphasized by Tron creator Justin Sun bragging about being the largest holder, is at the heart of these concerns.

WASHINGON, D.C. — Congressional Democrats threatened lawsuits, introduced legislation and planned protests in the lead-up to U.S. President Donald Trump's memecoin dinner.

Trump, whose affiliated businesses issued the $TRUMP memecoin just days before he was inaugurated for his second term, announced he would host the 220 largest holders of his token for a dinner at the Trump National Golf Club in Potomac Falls, Virginia on Thursday, leading to a price spike as interested parties immediately bought more tokens to secure an invite.

Critics called the move corrupt, pointing to the fact that foreign buyers who otherwise could not legally donate money to the president were purchasing tokens, as well as the opacity surrounding their buys — many of the dinner's attendees are unknown, and some even pointed to the ability to maintain anonymity as a factor in their decision to go, according to the Washington Post.

Tron creator Justin Sun boasted about being the top holder of the token ahead of the dinner, with blockchain explorers suggesting that the wallet with the largest $TRUMP holding is tied to HTX, a crypto exchange connected to Sun.

Legal action

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut Democrat who previously wrote open letters to two Trump-affiliated businesses asking about their crypto ventures, told reporters in a press call organized by center-left watchdog Accountable US that Trump was "auctioning" access to the White House with the memecoin dinner.

“What’s happening tonight…is in effect, putting a ‘for sale’ sign on the White House,” Blumenthal said. “It’s auctioning off access. He’s literally saying to investors, ‘the more you buy of my memecoin, the greater your chance of coming to dinner with me.’”

Blumenthal suggested that a lawsuit might force Trump to comply with at least some rules around foreign gifts or payments.

During Trump’s first presidency, Blumenthal and other members of Congress sued Trump for allegedly violating the U.S. Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause, which forbids public officials from taking gifts from foreign governments without the permission of Congress. Though an appeals court eventually nixed the suit, Blumenthal said Thursday he’s ready to try again.

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