US Rep Khanna Seeks To Ban Trump, Family From Crypto Trading

US lawmakers are calling for a ban on President Donald Trump, his family, and other members of Congress from trading in cryptocurrencies and stocks.

“Today, I am introducing legislation that would prohibit the president, his family, members of Congress, and all elected officials from trading in cryptocurrencies or stocks,” Congressman Ro Khanna said while sharing a clip of an MSNBC appearance from Monday.

Khanna, the Democratic representative for California’s 17th Congressional District and vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, expressed concern about President Trump’s apparent conflict of interest with cryptocurrencies through his son’s crypto project, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), and claimed that the recent pardon of Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Chao was “blatant corruption.”

“You have a foreign billionaire who was basically involved in money laundering,” Khanna said of CZ, adding, “He then basically funneled money to terrorists and then petitioned Donald Trump for a pardon.”

However, CZ recently hit back at a similar accusation from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, claiming she “can’t get the facts right.”

CZ pled guilty to a single felony count of violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act after failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering (AML) program at Binance.

Khanna claimed that the Binance co-founder was being let loose for funding WLFI, echoing recent sentiments from U.S. Representative Maxine Waters.

“And what he’s doing is saying, ‘I’m going to support World Liberty,’ which is the president’s son’s cryptocurrency company, and they’ve made millions of dollars during Donald Trump’s presidency. And Donald Trump is basically giving him a pardon while funding Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency stablecoin.”

Trump has faced repeated criticism for his involvement with WLFI, but his son Eric Trump has consistently denied that his father was involved in the project. In a recent interview in September, Eric emphasized that his father “runs the country. He is not involved in our business in any way shape or form.”

Khanna didn’t go into specific details of his legislative proposal, but he didn’t mince words, closing by calling for a ban on “elected officials holding virtual currencies and receiving foreign funds.”

Mr. Khanna’s latest bill has not yet been formally introduced, according to government records.

Related: How Zhao Changpeng regained power between imprisonment and pardon

Prohibit transactions with government officials

The question of whether government officials should be allowed to invest in areas such as the stock market has been hotly debated for some time.

This debate is currently intensifying in the United States through a bipartisan Congressional Stock Trading Bill, which is expected to be voted on soon.