U.S. Senate Democrats demand a hearing on United Arab Emirates's $500 million investment in Trump's crypto project, accusing the transfer of policy benefits

Five U.S. Senate Democrats, Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal, jointly sent a letter on June 23, requesting multiple Senate committees to hold an immediate hearing on the US$500 million investment by United Arab Emirates officials in the Trump family's encryption project WLFI to investigate whether the investment would have an impact on the Trump administration's subsequent policy decisions on the United Arab Emirates. According to the letter, agents of members of the Abu Dhabi royal family signed an agreement with the Trump family to acquire a 49% stake in WLFI for US$500 million. The agreement was completed four days before Trump took office, and foreign buyers paid US$218 million in advance to entities related to the Trump family and the Middle East chief diplomat Steve Witkov. The deal was reportedly endorsed by United Arab Emirates national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in which lawmakers called "unprecedented in American political history." What attracts more attention is the policy direction after the transaction is completed. According to the letter, within a few months of reaching the agreement, the Trump administration has made a series of decisions that are clearly beneficial to the United Arab Emirates: approving US$1.4 billion in arms sales to Afghanistan; the Ministry of Finance established a "Known Investor Pilot" project to provide a green light for the United Arab Emirates. The CFIUS rapid approval channel has been lobbied for a long time; the Ministry of Commerce lifted Biden era chip export restrictions and authorized United Arab Emirates AI company G42 to obtain 35,000 NVIDIA Blackwell chips, with a transaction value of more than US$1 billion. However, U.S. intelligence officials reportedly discovered that the G42 had provided China with U.S. technology that could be used to enhance missile capabilities. Senators asked Trump administration officials to "explain under oath when they became aware of payments made to the president and the family of his chief regional diplomat" and provide instructions on how to restore public trust. At present, neither WLFI nor the United Arab Emirates government have responded to this matter.