US Representative Khanna Aims to Prohibit Trump and His Family from Engaging in Cryptocurrency Trading

A US lawmaker is working to prohibit US President Donald Trump, his family, and Congress members from engaging in crypto or stock trading.

US Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California’s 17th Congressional District and vice-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, expressed his concerns on MSNBC regarding Trump’s perceived conflicts of interest connected to his son’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial (WLFI). He described the recent pardon of Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao as “blatant corruption.”

“You have a foreign billionaire essentially involved in money laundering,” Khanna stated about CZ, adding, “then he seeks a pardon from Donald Trump after funnelling money to terrorists.”

However, CZ recently responded to similar allegations from Senator Elizabeth Warren, asserting that she “can’t get her facts straight.”

CZ pled guilty to a single felony count for violating the US Bank Secrecy Act due to inadequate Anti-Money Laundering (AML) procedures at Binance.

Khanna claimed that the Binance co-founder was being excused due to Binance’s financial support of WLFI, echoing recent comments from US Representative Maxine Waters.

“What he does is he says, ‘I’m going to support World Liberty,’ which is the president’s son’s cryptocurrency firm that is generating millions while Donald Trump is in office. And Donald Trump grants him a pardon while he is essentially funding Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency stablecoin.”

Trump has been criticized for his connections to WLFI repeatedly; however, his son Eric Trump has consistently denied any involvement by his father with the project. In a September interview, Eric emphasized that his father “is running a nation. He’s not involved in our businesses in any way, shape, or form.”

Khanna did not provide specific details of his legislative proposal but was clear in his stance, ending with a call for a ban on “any elected official from holding cryptocurrency or accepting foreign funds.”

According to governmental records, Khanna’s most recent bill has not yet been formally introduced.

Related: How Changpeng Zhao regained power between prison and pardon

Banning government officials from trading   

The question of whether government officials should be allowed to invest in areas like the stock market has been a contentious issue for some time.

The debate is ongoing in the US with the bipartisan congressional stock trading bill, which is set to be voted on soon.