Democratic senators demand investigation: $500 million from UAE into Trump's crypto project
A group of five influential Democratic senators has sent an official request for urgent hearings regarding the cryptocurrency project World Liberty Financial (WLF), backed by the family of President Donald Trump. The reason for this serious step was information that, shortly before Trump's inauguration, a stake in the project worth $500 million was acquired by individuals linked to a member of the United Arab Emirates royal family.
Deal Details and Suspicions
The letter, sent on June 23 to the heads of five key Senate committees (Banking, Finance, Judiciary, Homeland Security, and Investigations), was signed by Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Gary Peters, Dick Durbin, and Ron Wyden. They insist that representatives of the Trump administration testify under oath about what they knew regarding these financial inflows.
The basis of the demands is an investigation published in the press. According to available data, the company Aryam Investment from Abu Dhabi purchased 49% of WLF shares for approximately $500 million. The deal was closed just four days before the U.S. presidential inauguration in January 2025. This company is controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's national security advisor and manager of the country's largest sovereign wealth fund.
It is reported that about $187 million of this amount went to entities linked to the Trump family, and approximately $31 million went to entities linked to the Witkoff family. The senators emphasize the direct connection between these investments and subsequent government actions. Specifically, they point out that a few months later, the administration approved a $1.4 billion arms sale to the UAE and also allowed UAE-based company G42 to supply 35,000 advanced American AI chips. The permit was issued in November 2025, despite warnings about threats to national security.
Relaxation of Oversight and White House Reaction
Additional concern among the senators is raised by a series of administration steps that weaken oversight of the crypto industry, including the disbandment of the Justice Department's special unit for investigating cryptocurrency crimes.
"The entire chain of events raises serious concerns and questions for us: it is possible that the UAE authorities have already received or will receive even more — to the detriment of U.S. national security — after investing in the Trump family's crypto company," the senators' letter states.
World Liberty Financial has previously rejected such claims, stating that Donald Trump and Steve Witkoff were not involved in the deal and have no connection to the company's activities since the president took office. The White House explained that the president's assets have been placed in a trust managed by his children, which, in their view, eliminates a conflict of interest. However, the senators, led primarily by Elizabeth Warren, who has repeatedly criticized Trump's crypto projects, believe that his administration's partnerships with Gulf countries in AI and cryptocurrencies pose a direct threat to national security.
Expert Opinion. This case is a stark example of how politics and cryptocurrencies intertwine at the highest level, creating unprecedented risks. Even if the president is legally distanced from the project, the mere fact that his family received hundreds of millions of dollars from a foreign state strategically important to the U.S., just days before the inauguration, undermines trust in any subsequent administration decisions regarding the UAE and crypto regulation. The market should closely monitor the development of these hearings — they could set a precedent for tightening control over political investments in digital assets.