U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) wants assurances from the Securities and Exchange Commission that it will remain independent as it considers approving financial products being launched by Trump Media and Technology Group.
Warren, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, asked in a letter to SEC Chair Paul Atkins how the agency plans on protecting consumers as the company, that is majority-owned by President Donald Trump. Recently, TMTG signed a “binding agreement” with Crypto.com and a new firm, Yorkville Digital America, to offer Trust Social-branded exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other products through its new financial services platform, Truth.fi. The company said it plans to launch these products by the end of the year.
“All SEC decisions and actions involving TMTG and President Trump’s financial interests should be carefully managed to ensure that they are free from undue political interference and influence from the President and his administration,” she wrote.
However, in her letter Warrant said the company would likely need to obtain SEC approval, which would incur serious ethical, legal and financial risk, especially given Trump’s direct financial interest in TMTG, and his authority over federal regulators. The whole process creates a serious conflict of interest, she said.
“The situation, in which ‘a sitting President has asked a federal agency within his administration to approve investment products by a company he controls,’ is ‘without precedent’ in the Commission’s history,” she wrote. “Furthermore, the President has attempted to assert his dominance over decision-making at independent agencies like the SEC through executive orders and firings, putting further pressure on the Commission to fall in line.”
Warren noted Trump has a history of failed business ventures, including prior SEC sanctions, and that his history, combined with his ability to influence markets and regulators, poses clear risks to investors and to public confidence in the integrity of U.S. markets.
Additionally, Warren said, TMTG has also announced it would launch a stablecoin, which Congress recently announced it would consider legislation for the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to regulate. Trump has already asserted authority over the regulatory and supervisory functions at both agencies, and passage of the legislation would put him in a position to control the activities of entities that regulate another of his businesses.