[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 144 (Monday, September 14, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4645-S4648]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Unanimous Consent Request--S. 5389
Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, tomorrow, the Senate will vote on a crypto
bill that poses massive risks to our families, to our national
security, and to our economy. And if that is not bad enough, while
Americans across this country suffer from an affordability crisis, this
bill will turbocharge President Donald Trump's ability to rake in
billions and billions of dollars from crypto.
Late last night, we got the details of President Trump and the
Republicans' final offer on ethics on this bill, and it reads exactly
like what you would expect the most corrupt President in our history to
bless: a weak fig leaf that will do nothing to stop him from making his
next $1.4 billion in crypto profits.
First, it makes sure that the law could never be enforced against
Donald Trump because it gives his political appointees the power to
turn off enforcement of all of these ethics provisions.
Second, it contains major loopholes designed to allow President Trump
to keep earning billions of dollars from his crypto business, including
World Liberty Financial and his new bank. Yeah, you heard that right.
On August 14, World Liberty Trust Company received preliminary
approval for a Federal banking charter. Donald Trump and his family own
38.25 percent of the bank. An investment fund backed by the UAE's
National Security Advisor and brother of the UAE's President reportedly
owns 49 percent of the bank. The bank charter was conditionally granted
by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a Federal banking
Agency controlled by--wait for it--Donald Trump.
Donald Trump is now the first President in American history to own
and oversee his very own bank. It may be the most brazen act of self-
dealing that our financial system has ever seen. The bank can serve as
the financial hub of the President's web of corruption. With a bank
charter, World Liberty will be able to operate nationwide, offer
families and businesses financial products and services, and enjoy the
credibility that comes with having the Federal Government's stamp of
approval.
The bank's primary product is the USD1 stablecoin, which is currently
issued by a third party bank partner under a licensing agreement with
World Liberty. The stablecoin arrangement earned President Trump $200
million last year. You know, that is a big chunk of the $1.4 billion
that he earned from his various crypto ventures just in 2025 alone.
USD1 is already the fifth largest stablecoin in the entire world, and
now, with the Federal banking charter, World Liberty can issue the
stablecoin directly without a separately regulated bank partner. The
charter could supercharge the growth of USD1, increase its
interconnectedness with the U.S. financial system, and, as a result,
drive even greater profits for President Trump and his family.
Donald Trump's bank is a new vehicle for billionaires, corporations,
and
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foreign countries to bribe him. These entities could cut Trump into
everyday transactions and business deals by making payments using USD1
instead of, you know, traditional checks or debit cards or wire
transfers. Trump could charge transaction fees, similar to Visa and
MasterCard, and generate interest on the cash deposited with World
Liberty in exchange for the USD1 stablecoin, similar to the business
model of a traditional bank.
Look, this is not hypothetical. We already saw this play out last
year in a trial run before World Liberty actually got its bank charter.
MGX, which is a UAE state-owned investment fund, made a $2 billion
investment in the crypto exchange Binance. Instead of using fiat
currency--ordinary money like the U.S. dollar--to purchase stock in
Binance, MGX paid Binance using USD1, cutting Trump in on the deal.
Coincidentally, President Trump pardoned the founder of Binance, who
had pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money
laundering program. Trump has also provided an array of foreign policy
favors to the UAE, including giving the UAE a special exemption from
U.S. export controls and approving the sales of advanced AI chips to
UAE companies despite repeated warnings from our own national security
officials that the technology could be diverted to China. So now, with
Trump's Federal bank charter, we could just see more of the same thing.
Even setting aside the clear conflict of interest and the corruption,
World Liberty's charter application would have been flatly denied under
any previous administration, Republican or Democrat, due to its
national security risks, anti-money laundering vulnerabilities, and
lack of competent management.
So consider this: A foreign intelligence official backed a minority
investment in the entity behind Trump's bank. Companies affiliated with
the bank--Trump's bank--reportedly sold millions of dollars' worth of
tokens to buyers that conducted business with North Korean state-
sponsored hackers, with sanctioned Russian money laundering entities,
and with other illicit actors; partnered with a venture whose main
project was led by individuals sanctioned by the U.S. Government; and
accepted $100 million from a businessman reportedly under investigation
for money laundering by the United Kingdom. That is who Trump is in bed
with in order to do this banking deal.
Most of the executives in charge of Trump's bank have little or no
experience in banking. The bank's founder and proposed president,
Zachary Witkoff, also happens to be the son of President Trump's Middle
East Envoy Steve Witkoff, and he has never worked before in a senior
banking role.
One of the bank's board members was the chairman and CEO of an
accounting company that was subject to multiple SEC and PCAOB
enforcement actions, including for ``systematic quality control
failures and violations of audit standards.''
In other words, there is one person here who has some experience, and
that is the person who has already been called out for systematic
quality control failures and violations of audit standards.
Then there is the chief compliance officer of Trump's bank, who
previously served as the chief compliance officer of a large crypto
platform that blew up in 2022 called Voyager Digital. The platform
faced multiple enforcement actions from State and Federal regulators
for compliance failures, including luring customers to store their
money on the platform by falsely claiming that the money would be FDIC
insured.
So that is who Donald Trump has pulled together. But Donald Trump
owns the bank, and he controls the Federal banking Agency that is
responsible for approving the charter of that bank, and the application
miraculously was approved.
Now it is on to Congress to step in and terminate this corrupt bank
charter, and that is exactly what the Ending Presidential Corruption in
Banking Act would do. The bill would prohibit Federal banking Agencies
from approving various types of banking applications when the applicant
is owned or controlled by a range of senior government officials. It
would also require the termination of any such charters or applications
that have been granted since January 20, 2025, which includes World
Liberty's national bank charter.
Look, this is just common sense. It is the least that Congress could
do to start unwinding President Trump's web of corruption.
Now, unfortunately, my Republican colleagues want to move in exactly
the opposite direction. They seem intent on furthering President
Trump's corruption. Look no further than the Senate's first order of
business after the August recess. Here we are. We have been away for
weeks. We come back, and what do the Republicans in the Senate put on
the floor for us to work on? Is it a bill to make life more affordable
for American families? No, not that. Is it a bill to end Donald Trump's
dangerous war in Iran? Oh, not that. Is it a bill that would juice the
value of President Trump's crypto empire and reward the crypto
billionaires who have facilitated his corruption? Bing, bing, bing--
that is what the Republicans put on the floor. As if the latest glaring
loopholes in the ethics provision weren't enough, it doesn't even apply
to Donald Trump's new bank.
So here is the deal: Instead of further enriching the President,
maybe Congress should curb this corruption--just clean up a little bit
here--and let's start by passing my bill, the Ending Presidential
Corruption in Banking Act. Let's make sure that we do not pass a crypto
bill that will let Donald Trump continue to rake in billions of dollars
in crypto profits while working families across this country struggle
to deal with higher prices and an economy that gets worse by the day.
Mr. President, as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule
XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate
consideration of S. 5389, introduced earlier today; that the bill be
considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
The Senator from Wyoming.
Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, the
immediate consideration of S. 5389, which the Senator from
Massachusetts has requested, has given her an opportunity to blast
again President Trump and his family.
World Liberty Financial is not his business; it is his children's
business. This body has been very reticent, for good reason, to control
the economic activities of the children of Members of the Senate. This
is their business, and they have very good reason to choose to go
overseas to do that business--because they were debanked in the United
States for political reasons. If you have a business that has accounts
in American banks and you are told you have got a week to get your
money out of that bank and you are going to have to make payroll, you
have got a problem.
The Trump kids had a problem because, during the last administration,
they were debanked. During the last administration, oil and gas
companies were debanked. Firearms companies were debanked. Digital
asset banks that were banking digital asset companies and were
completely solvent were forced out of business. That is what happens
with people who are obsessed with bank surveillance and obsessed with
power--that is what they do with it--and now we are seeing it again in
S. 5389.
This bill has so many technical flaws that I don't know where to
start. So let's start with the word ``control.''
Does the Senator from Massachusetts use the word ``control'' to mean
control under the Bank Holding Company Act or the Home Owners' Loan Act
or the Change in Bank Control Act? It is not specified in the text.
Does the Senator realize that there is a massive loophole in her bill
that would permit a covered person to acquire a bank through a change
of control application to purchase?
The Senator from Massachusetts may also not have realized that the
Federal Reserve Board is not the legal decisionmaker for master
accounts under 12 U.S.C. 2488. The Federal Reserve Banks are. Many
times, including in the Custodia case before the U.S. Supreme Court,
the Federal Reserve Board directs an outcome to the Federal Reserve
Banks, as is the case in Custodia, but the Board does not approve
applications.
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I would also like to remind the Senator from Massachusetts that she
cheered on the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, and the OCC when they
weaponized their powers and terminated the bank accounts of many law-
abiding Americans--those engaged in digital asset activities, firearms,
and oil and gas. It was all part of Operation Choke Point 2.0.
On the Banking Committee, we finally saw the guidance documents that
were being used by the Federal Reserve through its division of bank
supervision, which is overseen by the Vice Chair of the Federal
Reserve. They were using guidance, saying: If directors of a bank or
the president of a bank is making inappropriate political remarks, that
is a reason for a little bureaucrat to get after him.
That is what happened in Canada when the truckers had their bank
accounts shut down because they were picketing the capital, and people
who donated to their cause had their bank accounts shut down.
This is a surveillance state in the making, and the leader of that
surveillance state in the making is in this room tonight. She is the
proponent of S. 5389.
This is a stain on our country. We have to rid this country of this
stain wherein we surveil our own people through their bank accounts--
how they spend their money--the seeing eye of the Federal Government on
what you do.
This is wrong. This is un-American. This bill is un-American.
For these reasons, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
The Senator from Massachusetts.
Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I just know there were some words I didn't
hear in the objection. I never heard anything about the $1.4 billion in
profits that Donald Trump made in his first year of crypto activities,
and I never heard any words about the fact that Donald Trump now is the
first person in American history to both regulate the bank and own his
own bank. I didn't hear anything about that, and that is what this bill
is all about.
It is about the corruption and the opportunity for Donald Trump to be
able to run his own bank; to do it with partners who are, at best,
shall we say, ethically compromised; and to be able to invite in
whoever wants to come and leave whatever kinds of wealth behind for
Donald Trump to be able to gobble up.
You know, I understand it is hard to stand up to a man like Donald
Trump, but at some point, the folks in this Congress over on the
Republican side are going to have to grow a backbone. The American
people know corruption when they see it, and this is corruption. What
Donald Trump is doing with cryptocoins and now with his own bank to be
able to supercharge his crypto wealth and to do it at a time when the
people who followed Donald Trump lost $4 billion in their Donald Trump
investments--this is a President who is all about enriching himself and
not about serving the American people.
The least we could do--the least we could do--in the U.S. Senate is
say: The guy who is in charge of the regulations, who runs the whole
country--he tells us how powerful he is--and the guy who can actually
say to the bank regulators--and does--``back off or move forward''
should not have his own bank to enrich himself and to pump up his
crypto ownings.
I get it--the Senator is here to object--but what she doesn't talk
about is the Trump corruption that is on the front page of every paper
that is talked about and in news stories. People see it; it is
documented; and the American people, I think, are just damned sick of
it.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am here, thinking about all the
Americans who are working on manufacturing plant assembly lines, of all
the Americans who are teaching our kids in school or who are patrolling
our streets as police or who are working in our hospitals--all of the
hard-working Americans who are just working to get by, to make ends
meet, to know whether they can afford another $20 or $30 at the
supermarket.
Then to think of Donald Trump's making $6 million per day last year--
a total of $2.2 billion just in the first year of his Presidency--I
don't think there is a single person in America who thinks that he
earned that money. And how could he? He is supposed to be devoting
every waking moment to the public interest of the United States--to
keeping us safe and our Nation secure.
The fact is that it was the result of corruption as $1.4 billion of
it came from crypto. The point of this legislation is, essentially, to
end that corruption. We will vote tomorrow on a crypto bill that is,
sadly and tragically, riddled with loopholes that enable him to
continue this same self-dealing and self-enrichment.
The failure to stand up to the President, I think, is going to be on
our Republican colleagues because this amendment--ethics requirements
for digital assets--is a sham; it is a charade. If nothing else,
Republicans should take a stand and say: In crypto legislation that is
supposed to stop wrongdoing, lawlessness, and the funding of terrorist
organizations and money laundering, now is the time to also impose a
strong conflict-of-interest rule--the Ending Presidential Corruption in
Banking Act.
Think of it for a moment, the Ending Presidential Corruption in
Banking Act, it bans the President and the Vice President and their
immediate families from owning or controlling banks.
When I came to the U.S. Senate, if you had told me I would be
supporting an Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act because it
would be necessary to stop corruption and because the President would
be twisting and ignoring and bending norms and precedents of the
Presidency, I would have said: That would never happen in the United
States of America.
But President Trump has been clear: There is no ethical line
separating his role as President from his family's businesses. It is
that simple.
Corruption has become the family business.
After President Trump issued an Executive order to assert control
over the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, his control over
that body--which approves bank charters--surprise, Trump's crypto
company, World Liberty Financial, applied for a bank charter.
And, no surprise, on August 14, 2026, World Liberty Financial was
granted conditional approval for a national bank charter.
Corruption has consequences. It has costs. That bank charter is worth
millions--maybe hundreds of millions--to World Liberty Financial, but
it will enable World Liberty Financial to exploit and take advantage of
consumers that will cost them money out of those hard-earned wages that
they make.
In fact, Donald Trump made $1.4 billion, including 636 million from
his meme coin, but nearly a million Americans lost billions of
dollars--more than $3 billion--while he was making his huge profits.
Corruption has consequences. It has costs. When the President of the
United States is dealing with the Emiratis, who have bought a 49-
percent share for billions of dollars in one of his enterprises, and
then the Emiratis receive approval for the purchase of chips that have
been refused them or defense equipment that is hugely valuable to them,
it threatens our national security.
And when the President's son or his family go around the world
establishing resorts, making deals, there is always a quid pro quo.
There is always a quid to the quo. There is no free lunch. Our security
is compromised. There are costs to our taxpayers.
And that plane that was supposedly a gift is already costing us
hundreds of millions of dollars, not to mention our being beholden to
the Qatar Government. There is no free lunch.
After Donald Trump, Jr., became a partner of the venture capital firm
1789 Capital, its assets ballooned to $3 billion as its portfolio
companies rapidly received lucrative government contracts.
Those government contracts impact the taxpayers when they are sole
source, when they are granted without proper review and scrutiny and
oversight of what the costs will be to taxpayers. There is no free
lunch.
So this measure is not only important, it is necessary. And I have to
say, the consequences of corruption are
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measured not only in dollars and cents but also in our moral standing
around the world.
Just this morning, ProPublica reported that Donald Trump, Jr.'s,
lavish wedding in the Caribbean was, in effect, heavily bankrolled by a
Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin. His name is Umar Kremlev.
Umar Kremlev is also involved in an organization that reeducates
Ukrainian children who have been abducted.
I have been to Ukraine 11 times. On a number of those trips, I have
met with children who have been abducted and kidnapped by Vladimir
Putin. It is the reason he has been judged and charged as a war
criminal. And one of his henchmen, apparently, is Umar Kremlev in
reeducating those children so that they will forget their past, forget
their language, forget their culture, forget their religion.
This is truly criminal. And Kremlev has paid likely hundreds of
thousands of dollars for Donald Junior's lavish wedding. He is in a
photograph of the wedding party.
That picture haunts me. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand
words. And the picture of a man who has, in effect, been complicit in
abducting and reeducating children, separating them--and not just a few
but literally tens of thousands, as many as 35,000, maybe 50,000 or
more--separating them from their families. I wouldn't want to be caught
on the same island with him, let alone having him rent the island for a
wedding of a family member.
Let me put it another way: Those Americans who are working hard to
make ends meet, wondering whether they can afford another $20 or $30 at
the supermarket while Donald Trump averaged $6 million a day in 2025,
ought to demand of all of us that we pass the Ending Presidential
Corruption in Banking Act.
It is the least we can do. It is a first step. And I hope that we
will also pass a crypto measure that is worthy of this body and its
name.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Moreno). The Senator from Wyoming.
Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, briefly, in response to the gentleman who
just spoke, the digital asset bill we are voting on tomorrow, the
Clarity Act, gives the Democrats exactly what they asked for on an
ethics deal. It requires the President to divest or use a blind trust,
disclosure of sales, a ban on promoting your own coin, and State AG
enforcement power.
Take the win.
Mr. President, I would like to conclude my remarks. We will talk
Clarity tomorrow, and I would like to move into closing the Senate for
today and making announcements about tomorrow's schedule.
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