TLDR:
- Five Senate Democrats are demanding immediate hearings into World Liberty Financial’s $500M UAE investment deal.
- Abu Dhabi investors reportedly acquired a 49% stake in the Trump-linked crypto firm before inauguration day.
- The Trump administration approved arms sales and AI chip deals with the UAE months after the reported investment.
- Democrats also flagged the DOJ’s disbanding of its crypto enforcement team amid broader regulatory rollbacks.
Senate Democrats are pressing Republican leaders to hold hearings into World Liberty Financial, the crypto platform tied to President Donald Trump. A letter signed by five senior Democratic senators calls for Trump administration officials to testify under oath.
The request centers on a reported $500 million deal between the Trump-linked firm and Abu Dhabi investors, and whether that arrangement shaped subsequent US policy decisions favoring the UAE.
The Reported Deal and Its Political Context
Four days before Trump’s inauguration, lieutenants to an Abu Dhabi royal reportedly purchased a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial.
The deal was valued at approximately $500 million, with $218 million paid upfront to entities tied to the Trump and Witkoff families. Steve Witkoff serves as Trump’s Middle East envoy, making his family’s involvement a point of contention.
Senators Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Gary Peters, Dick Durbin, and Ron Wyden signed the letter. They addressed it to Republican chairs of their respective Senate committees, urging immediate action. Republicans control the Senate and its committees, so they hold the authority to approve or reject hearings.
The lawmakers described the arrangement as “something unprecedented in American politics,” noting that a foreign government official taking a major ownership stake in an incoming US president’s company had no prior parallel.
The letter stated that “Congress has a responsibility to investigate the details of the reported investment and whether it influenced subsequent actions by President Trump and the Trump Administration.”
Trump has publicly stated he was unaware of the World Liberty Financial deal. Democrats, however, argue that congressional oversight cannot rest on that claim alone and that sworn testimony is required.
The senators called on Trump administration officials to “explain under oath what they knew and when about payments to the families of the President and his lead diplomat for the region.”
Policy Decisions Under Scrutiny
Within months of the reported investment, the Trump administration approved $1.4 billion in arms sales to the UAE.
It also authorized the sale of 35,000 advanced AI chips to the UAE’s G42 firm, despite concerns raised by national security officials about potential Chinese access.
Democrats argue those decisions followed the financial arrangement in a troubling sequence. The senators wrote that they were “deeply concerned about this series of events, which raise questions about what more the UAE may receive — or may have already received — at the expense of US national security after investing in the Trump family crypto company.”
The letter also points to crypto regulatory rollbacks that occurred during the same period. The Justice Department disbanded its National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, and crypto service providers received exemptions from certain financial regulations.
Senators argued officials must “explain how they will restore faith that the Administration is representing the best interests of the American people.”
Additional scrutiny has emerged over a UAE-backed fund’s $2 billion investment in Binance, paid partly through World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin, USD1.
That deal coincided with a presidential pardon granted to Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, which Democratic Senator Peter Welch and Representative Dave Min launched a separate probe into in May.
