{"id":11900,"date":"2025-02-07T12:32:05","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T12:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=11900"},"modified":"2025-02-07T12:32:05","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T12:32:05","slug":"public-citizen-urges-doj-to-investigate-trump-memecoin-alleges-gift-solicitation-by-us-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=11900","title":{"rendered":"Public Citizen Urges DOJ To Investigate TRUMP Memecoin, Alleges \u2018Gift Solicitation\u2019 By US President"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Non-profit organization Public Citizen has urged the US Office of Government Ethics (OGE) and Department Of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the TRUMP memecoin and the potential violation of federal law barring gift solicitation by US President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

DOJ Asked To Investigate TRUMP Memecoin<\/h2>\n

On Wednesday, Public Citizen, a non-profit consumer advocacy organization, filed a complaint<\/a> with the OGE and DOJ asking the agencies to investigate whether US President Donald Trump might have violated federal law by endorsing the token.<\/p>\n

The complaint states that federal law strictly regulates payments to government officials, including gifts. Under this law, the US president may receive gifts but can\u2019t \u201csolicit\u201d them. The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) lists multiple exemptions from this prohibition, but none include soliciting purchases for personal gain.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"memecoin\"<\/p>\n

According to Public Citizen, Trump\u2019s promotion<\/a> of the TRUMP memecoin seemingly violates the prohibition. The document notes that the US president promoted his official token before and after officially entering the White House.<\/p>\n

On January 17, Trump announced the official TRUMP memecoin on social media, including X and Truth Social. His only X post about the token was seemingly reposted on Inauguration Day and posted on Truth Social on January 21. The posts read:<\/p>\n

\n

My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It\u2019s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW. Go to http:\/\/gettrumpmemes.com \u2014 Have Fun!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The complaint highlights<\/a> that the US president is the principal owner of the official memecoin, as 80% of the supply is owned by CIC Digital LLC. This company is \u201can affiliate of the Trump Organization,\u201d Public Citizen argues, adding that it is \u201c100% owned by the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Donald Trump is the \u201csole beneficiary\u201d of the revocable trust. Under the question on the website: \u201cIs this an official Trump product?\u201d the website answers: \u201cYes, this is the only Official Trump Meme, by President Donald J. Trump.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The non-profit organization considers that since President Trump is not soliciting money in exchange for an investment or tangible product but \u201csoliciting money in exchange for nothing,\u201d he is potentially \u201casking for a gift that will benefit him personally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are Politician Tokens A National Security Risk?<\/h2>\n

The complaint also brings another key issue: the potential participation of foreign states. Public Citizen notes it is difficult to know if foreign state actors are \u201cgifting the president\u201d by purchasing the memecoin, which presents a national security issue.<\/p>\n

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin recently<\/a> spoke about this issue in an X post. Buterin considers that politician tokens could represent a \u201crisk to democracy\u201d as they could be turned into \u201cvehicles for unlimited political bribery, including from foreign nation-states.\u201d<\/p>\n

He explained that these tokens can be held in private and offer the possibility of denial of intention, making them the \u201cperfect\u201d bribery medium. The non-profit organization stated that \u201cthe dangers inherent in the Trump meme portend ominously.\u201d<\/p>\n

It concludes that if the president can enrich himself this way, other politicians could follow his steps, making the prohibition on solicitation and receipt of gifts by officials other than the president \u201cvirtually meaningless.\u201d<\/p>\n

A recent report from Reuters revealed<\/a> that entities behind Trump\u2019s memecoin accumulated around $100 million in trading fees in less than two weeks.<\/p>\n

Analysis from three crypto data firms, including Merkle Science and Chainalysis, estimated that the TRUMP token generated between $86 million and $100 million in fees by January 30, exceeding the figures previously reported.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the report noted it is unclear if the US president has personally received any portion of the fees or the ownership of the other entities behind the memecoin.<\/p>\n

\"Memecoin,<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Non-profit organization Public Citizen has urged the US Office of Government Ethics (OGE) and Department Of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the TRUMP memecoin and the potential violation of federal law barring gift solicitation by US President Donald Trump. DOJ Asked To Investigate TRUMP Memecoin On Wednesday, Public Citizen, a non-profit consumer advocacy organization, filed a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-11900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11900\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}