Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, said Friday she is uncomfortable with an exclusive gala dinner and White House tour that is being offered to top investors in the $TRUMP meme token.
“This is my president that we’re talking about, but I am willing to say that this gives me pause,” Lummis said, according to NBC News. She has been among the senators pushing legislation to regulate cryptocurrency. Meme coins are digital tokens with no utility outside their association with a celebrity or internet meme.
Last week, the meme coin’s website announced that the top 220 investors of the coin will be invited to an “intimate private dinner” with Trump at his golf club outside of Washington, D.C., on May 22. The top 25 investors also will be invited to an exclusive reception with Trump before the dinner and an invitation to attend a “VIP White House Tour” the following day.
The website noted that the tour is being arranged by Fight Fight Fight LLC, which along with CIC Digital LLC, an affiliate of the Trump Organization, owns 80% of the meme coin venture, and added the president is appearing at the dinner as a guest and not soliciting funds for it. The website also noted the meme coin is “not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign or any political office or governmental agency.”
Still, the price of the meme coin surged more than 57% on April 23 to $14.43, the day the gala dinner was announced, according to Coinbase, a U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange. The price reached $16.42 on April 26 before falling back to $13.02 by 4 p.m. Friday. The price remains far below the peak it reached shortly before Inauguration Day, when it soared to as high as $74 amid a wave of enthusiasm for the first presidential meme coin.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, a moderate who doesn’t always align with Trump, expressed uneasiness about the event, though she admitted she didn’t know all of the details.
“I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to charge people to come into the Capitol and take a tour.” Murkowski told NBC News on Thursday.
Despite Murkowski’s reservations, there are no laws barring Trump and the organizations behind the dinner from proceeding as planned. White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly reportedly said last week that, "President Trump's assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest."
“He’s got to remember that he’s living there, but it’s the people’s house, right?” Murkowski said.
Whether $TRUMP holders can attend the dinner depends on their average balance of the coins between April 23 and May 12, according to an FAQ on the website. That could give deep-pocketed investors an incentive to buy coins to win an audience with the president.
The terms and conditions on the website for the gala warn that Trump might not be able to attend the dinner and that it could be canceled for any reason. If that happens, attendees will instead receive a “limited edition TRUMP NFT,” a sort of digital trading card that amounts to Trump memorabilia.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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