Johnson waves off concerns about Trump meme coin
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) brushed off concerns about President Trump and his family's recent cryptocurrency dealings, stating the president has "nothing to hide."
During a press conference Monday, a reporter pressed Johnson on his past criticism of the Biden family's foreign dealings, asking the Speaker if he is "equally concerned" about the Trump family's crypto ventures.
"Look there are authorities that, police, executive branch, ethics rules ... I'm not an expert in that," Johnson replied. "My expertise is in the House."
"The reason many people refer to the Bidens as the Biden crime family is because they were doing all this stuff behind curtains ... in the back rooms, they were trying to conceal it, and they repeatedly lied about it," Johnson said. "Whatever President Trump is doing is out in the open. They're not trying to conceal anything."
Democrats have increasingly raised concerns in recent weeks over Trump's family crypto business, World Liberty Financial, including its new deal with Emirati firm MGX and crypto exchange Binance.
As part of the deal, World Liberty Financials's new stablecoin will be used to complete the $2 billion transaction.
Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called on a federal watchdog to investigate the deal, suggesting it could be used as a "backdoor for kickbacks and bribes" given its connections to both the Trump and Witkoff families.
Steve Witkoff is Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, while his son, Zach Witkoff, is a co-founder of World Liberty Financial.
Meanwhile, Trump and first lady Melania Trump's launch of two personalized meme coins sparked scrutiny earlier this year. The scrutiny ramped up late last month after the official website for $TRUMP announced President Trump would attend an "intimate private dinner" with the top 220 holders of his meme coin at his golf club in Washington.
The announcement of the dinner prompted a large surge in the price of the $TRUMP token.
The reporter followed up Johnson's claim that Trump has "nothing to hide" by pointing out meme coins are often not traded transparently.
They are often traded on a decentralized exchange where people can anonymously trade assets, which makes it more difficult to monitor transactions and creates a gray area in terms of what trades regulators and the public can see.
"I don't know anything about the meme coin, I don't know. I can just tell you that President Trump has had nothing to hide," Johnson responded. "He's very upfront about it and there are people who watch all the ethics of that, but I've got to be concerned with running the House of Representatives.
The reporter pushed back, noting Congress has an oversight duty, to which Johnson said, "Congress has oversight responsibility, but I think so far as I know the ethics are all being followed."
When reached for comment about the World Liberty Financial deal earlier this month, a White House spokesperson pushed back against the argument Trump is personally benefiting from the venture.
“President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest,” White House deputy press assistant Anna Kelly told The Hill.