Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell alleged that President Donald Trump may use his new cryptocurrency, called $TRUMP coin, to take bribes from foreign governments in a column on Tuesday.
Rampell slammed buyers of the president’s cryptocurrency, saying, “The challenge now for anyone who bought these coins is that if they want to cash out, they have to find a greater fool willing to pay more,” claiming, “Trump has made these latest billions by fleecing his biggest fans.”
Although the Post columnist claimed that it’s unlikely that there will be a steady stream of retail investors willing to pay higher and higher prices for the coin, she is confident that more nefarious buyers will keep the order books filled.
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“For the next four years, there may be one reliable source of ongoing $TRUMP buyers: individuals, companies and foreign governments that want to curry favor with the president,” said Rampell.
The headline of the piece charged: “Trump finds a new way for foreign governments to pay him off: Crypto.” The sub-headline read: “Trump’s crypto coin is little more than a whizbang Ponzi scheme.”
Rampell included an analogy that described how she believes these alleged bribes would work.
“The Saudis no longer need to stay at one of Trump’s hotels — or merely pretend to — to line the president’s pockets; they can flash their digital wallet to show how much they’ve boosted his net worth,” said Rampell, adding, “After all, every dollar they put into propping up the value of Trump’s memecoin will effectively add cash to Trump’s bank account, emoluments clause be damned.”
The Foreign Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution states, “[N]o Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State”
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The columnist also alleged that $TRUMP insiders appear to be engaging in insider trading.
“Meanwhile, $TRUMP insiders appear to already be transferring some of their tokens to an overseas trading platform that is not allowed to execute trades in the United States. Perhaps they’re positioning themselves to stand outside the U.S. government’s reach anyway,” said Rampell.
During Trump’s inaugural speech on Monday, the president told Americans that “for many years, a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens.”
Rampell ended her column by turning this quote on the president, claiming, “Perhaps his objection was that the old establishment simply wasn’t tech-savvy enough.”
The White House did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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