Trump’s New Crypto Reserve Is Open Corruption

On Sunday, President Trump announced his plans for a U.S. “crypto strategic reserve,” stating that he’d make the country the “Crypto Capital of the World.” But a closer look reveals the reserve may be nothing but a blatant insider trading scam to make his billionaire crypto czar richer—funded by taxpayer money.

Trump announced that he plans to add five cryptocurrencies to the strategic reserve: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, and Cardano. Not so coincidentally, his crypto czar David Sacks has a venture firm linked to Bitwise Invests, one of the biggest crypto index fund providers. Bitwise holds significant amounts of the very same cryptocurrencies. Sacks promised that he sold his personal, direct holdings, but made no mention of his multiple indirect holdings.

If this wasn’t enough, just a few hours before Trump’s announcement, someone bought $200 million in Ethereum and Bitcoin, raising the question of who may have known about the plan ahead of time.

Sacks, for his part, has denied the claims of his indirect holdings, instead insisting that they are a farce. “I had a $74k position in the Bitwise ETF which I sold on January 22. I do not have ‘large indirect holdings,’” Sacks said. “I’ll provide an update at the end of the ethics process.”

Sacks is set to chair a first annual crypto summit at the White House on Friday.

Another former adviser to Donald Trump has called him out for bowing to Russia in his Ukraine peace deal, and the president does not seem to be handling it very well.

“H.R. MCMASTER IS A WEAK AND TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE LOSER!” Trump posted to his social media platform Truth Social late Sunday.

“We should spend less time worrying about Putin, and more time worrying about migrant rape gangs, drug lords, murderers, and people from mental institutions entering our Country—So that we don’t end up like Europe!” Trump wrote in a separate post.

In another post early Monday, Trump claimed that he was “the only president who gave none of Ukraine’s land to Putin’s Russia,” despite the fact that the deal cooked up by his administration thus far would fail to return Ukraine to its prewar borders.

The commentary on his first term national security adviser followed a 60 Minutes interview in which McMaster spoke on Trump’s excruciating meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. On Friday, Trump and Vice President JD Vance overtly showed where their loyalties lie: Seated in front of the press in the White House, the pair refused to let Zelenskiy speak, allowed a conservative reporter to mock Zelenskiy’s wartime attire, and effectively leveraged the critical meeting for measly political gain by defending Russian President Vladimir Putin at the cost of denigrating former U.S. officials. And in doing so, they challenged America’s strongest alliances while ceding the world stage to its adversaries.

The lack of diplomacy derailed peace negotiations and prematurely concluded Zelenskiy’s visit, before the Ukrainian leader had a chance to sign a rare earth minerals deal that would have been a boon for America’s tech industry.

“Vladimir Putin couldn’t be happier,” McMaster told CBS, sizing up the events of the day. “Because what he sees is all of the pressure on Zelenskiy, all of the pressure on Ukraine, and no pressure on him.”

McMaster noted that Putin is a “master manipulator” with a deep understanding of how to work Trump to Russia’s advantage.

“He appeals to President Trump’s sense of aggrievement,” McMaster said. “And he’s been very successful at it because he’s a master manipulator and one of the best liars in the world.”

Russian forces crossed the Ukrainian border on February 24, 2022, which Putin tried to justify by falsely claiming that he needed to protect civilians in eastern Ukraine.

The U.S. and Russia opened discussions at a meeting in Saudi Arabia last month, seeking a conclusion to the three-year war, but the assembly conspicuously excluded Ukrainian leadership.

Donald Trump was roasted at the 97th Academy Awards ceremony Sunday night for his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Anora is having a good night,” said host Conan O’Brien, referring to Sean Baker’s film, which had already picked up awards for screenwriting and editing, and would go on to win Best Actress and Best Picture.

“Yeah, that’s great, that’s great news. Two wins already. I guess Americans are excited to see somebody finally stand up to a powerful Russian,” O’Brien joked. The audience erupted into astonished laughter, before breaking into loud cheering and applause.

O’Brien’s joke comes just days after Trump and Vice President JD Vance detonated a metaphorical bomb during their meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, disgracefully demanding that the wartime president thank them for aid they didn’t even approve, which they are anxious to see returns on.

“He can come back when he is ready for Peace,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday, after readily undermining efforts to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Trump’s little performance Friday won’t win any awards, but it has likely delighted the audience in Moscow.

As the White House cracks down on which news outlets are allowed to have access to President Donald Trump, it seems that a member of Russian state media was somehow able to make their way into the Oval Office Friday.

While mainstream outlets the Associated Press and Reuters were kept out of a tense discussion between Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a member of Tass, a Russian news agency that pushes propaganda about Russia’s “liberation” of Ukraine, was briefly in the room with the two world leaders.

A White House official told Politico that Tass was “not on the approved list of media” for the day’s press pool.

“As soon as it came to the attention of press office staff that he was in the Oval, he was escorted out by the Press Secretary,” the official said, adding that the reporter wasn’t on the list of the now-canceled press conference after, either.

The White House did not explain how the reporter was able to gain access to the Oval Office, despite not being on the list for entry.

Earlier this week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that the White House would determine members of the press pool, leaving it to craft its own unit of propagandists and shutting out the White House Correspondents’ Association. The change in the rules comes after the Trump administration was sued for revoking the Associated Press’s access, over the wire’s unwillingness to pretend the Gulf of Mexico is called the “Gulf of America.”

Trump has increasingly aligned himself with Russian President Vladimir Putin, echoing Moscow’s rhetoric criticizing Ukraine and its leader, and mounting an all-out detonation during their meeting Friday.

After Donald Trump and JD Vance’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy Friday devolved into a shouting match where Trump kicked Zelenskiy out of the White House, Russian leaders couldn’t help but gloat.

Dmitry Medvedev, a former figurehead prime minister and president under Vladimir Putin and now the deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, posted on X that “the insolent pig finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office. And @realDonaldTrump is right: The Kiev regime is ‘gambling with WWIII.’”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova had worse words to describe Zelenskiy, and was full of praise for Trump and Vance.

“I think Zelensky’s BIGGEST lie, among all his lies, was his statement at the White House that the Kyiv regime was left alone, without support, in 2022,” Zakharova said. “How Trump and Vance managed to restrain themselves and not smack this bastard—it’s a miracle of self-control.”

Russian Senator Andrei Klishas said in a Telegram post that the Oval Office meeting ended in“a brilliant result,” adding that the “Kyiv clown” Zelenskiy “played his role of a ‘president’ poorly in the White House and was thrown out for bad behavior and disrespect towards the U.S.”

It seems that Vance and Trump did Russia a great service in their disaster of a meeting with Zelenskiy, which was supposed to involve a deal for Ukraine’s mineral rights. Most Republicans seem to back the White House, giving Trump the license to overhaul U.S. foreign policy toward Ukraine in favor of something closer to Russia’s desires over the objections of the few GOP dissenters. Friday seems to have been a win for Vladimir Putin.

Republicans in Congress are cheering on Donald Trump’s disastrous meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy Friday, which ended with a hasty exit from Zelenskiy, a canceled press conference, and no mineral rights deal.

Zelenskiy was reportedly kicked out of the White House after discussions turned into a shouting match in full view of the press and visitors, including Ukraine’s U.S. ambassador and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. It seems that most Republicans in Congress couldn’t be happier with how things went.

Representative Anna Paulina seems to think that Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s belligerence increased the likelihood of peace, posting a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social post summing up the president’s view of the meeting as Zelenskiy not being ‘“ready for peace if America is involved.”

Senator Mike Lee praised the president’s reaction, posting, “Thank you for standing up for OUR COUNTRY and putting America first, President Trump and Vice President Vance!” Senator Josh Hawley seemed to praise Trump as well, calling Trump’s remark that Zelenskiy was gambling with his country’s future “accurate.”.

“Remember: the U.S. Senate has repeatedly and for years voted BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars to Ukraine with no strings attached and with no true oversight. It’s time for some ACCOUNTABILITY,” Hawley wrote in a follow-up post.

Representative Nancy Mace praised the meeting as peace through strength,” while Representative Byron Donalds, who recently got Trump’s endorsement in the Florida governor’s race, thanked Trump and Vance.

“This is what putting the AMERICAN PEOPLE FIRST looks like,” Donalds posted.

Even Representative Victoria Spartz, who is from Ukraine, joined in bashing Zelenskiy and praising Trump.

Senator Lindsey Graham, at one time a staunch supporter of Ukraine, saw an opportunity to bash Zelenskiy and call for his replacement.

It seems that in one meeting, Trump and Vance may have blown up U.S. relations with Ukraine and sent a message to European allies that they will not be working together against Russia. And with Republicans in Congress behind him, aid to Ukraine may now be over for good.

Donald Trump and JD Vance had a disastrous meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. And while most Republicans are cheering on their fearless leader, at least two GOP members have found the courage to criticize the Trump administration.

Trump and Vance were incredibly condescending and verbally hostile toward Zelenskiy in their Friday meeting, likely destroying whatever allyship and goodwill the two countries shared. They both constantly interrupted and yelled over Zelenskiy, insisting that he had shown no gratitude for the previous aid he’d received, that he was being disrespectful for defending his country, and that he was “gambling with World War III.”

This moment is a point of climax in the GOP’s turn away from Ukraine and toward Russia. But the meeting left at least some Republicans shocked.

“Our White House leaders sound like the Democrats in the 1970s and 1980s in regard to Russia. Reagan was right then,” Representative Don Bacon told The Wall Street Journal’s Olivia Beavers. “A bad day for America’s foreign policy. Ukraine wants independence, free markets, and rule of law. It wants to be part of the West. Russia hates us and our Western values. We should be clear that we stand for freedom.” Bacon was notably one of 35 Republicans who voted with Democrats to establish the investigative January 6 commission in 2021.

Representative Mike Lawler, an otherwise staunch Trump supporter, felt similarly.

“Today’s meeting in the Oval Office was a missed opportunity for both the United States and Ukraine—an agreement that would undoubtedly result in stronger economic and security cooperation,” Lawler wrote on X. “Diplomacy is tough and often times there are serious differences of opinion and heated exchanges behind closed doors. Having this spill out into public view was a disaster—especially for Ukraine. As someone who fundamentally believes that Russia, China and Iran are not our friends or allies and continues to believe it is important to support Ukraine, it was extremely short-sighted to engage in that type of exchange in front of the US and international press as you work towards an agreement. Sadly, the only winner of today is Vladimir Putin.”

Trump and Vance have lambasted Zelenskiy for weeks, calling him a dictator, saying that Ukraine started the war, and making any aid to Ukraine conditional on the grounds that they hand over their “rare earths”—all moves sure to delight the Kremlin.

Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s joint press conference was canceled Friday, after a disastrous meeting between the world leaders.

The press conference was set to take place Friday afternoon, only to be unceremoniously canceled after a reportedly tense exchange between the two men.

The White House told reporters that Trump had kicked Zelenskiy out, but Zelenskiy has not commented yet on whether he was asked to leave or if he left on his own accord.

Fox News’s Jacqui Heinrich reported that the White House claimed that Zelenskiy’s team was “begging to reset” after the meeting, but that the Ukrainian president had been dismissed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz.

Clearly expecting to be showered with praise, Trump and Vance were triggered by Zelenskiy’s demeanor and rhetoric. The White House claimed that the world leader had been “shrugging and rolling his eyes” throughout their conversation, and that the president and U.S. officials felt disrespected.

Zelenskiy did not sign the rare minerals deal between the U.S. and Ukraine before his early departure.

The minerals deal was a key feature of ongoing negotiations between the U.S. and Ukraine to get paid back for the billions in aid that the U.S. has supplied to the war-torn country. While Trump claims the U.S. has provided $350 billion, the real number is closer to $174 billion. The deal would funnel half of the Eastern European nation’s rare earth minerals—hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of materials—into the American market.

For now, the deal seems dead in the water.

Trump posted on Truth Social shortly before canceling the press conference, attempting to downplay just how much of a catastrophe their shouting match—er, meeting had been. Clearly expecting to be showered with praise, Trump and JD Vance took turns flying off the handle as the Ukrainian president attempted to answer their questions.

“We had a very meaningful meeting in the White House today. Much was learned that could never be understood without conversation under such fire and pressure,” Trump wrote.

Trump also indicated that Ukraine had been disinvited from negotiations to end Russia’s unlawful and deadly invasion into its territory.

“It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace,” he wrote.

This story has been updated.

The Democratic Party is fighting back.

On Friday, the Democratic National Committee, as well as two other national party committees, filed a lawsuit against President Trump, stating that his executive order to seize control of the Federal Elections Commission breaks federal law.

Trump’s order also claims authority over a vast array of other federal agencies, like the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the National Labor Relations Board. But the targeting of the FEC makes up the Democrats’ lawsuit, as it’s a clear bold-faced move that could place the future of free and fair elections in jeopardy.

“Executive Order 14215 grounds its unprecedented assertion of presidential power in Article II of the U.S. Constitution. But the constitutionality of FECA’s vesting of authority in the FEC is beyond question,” the DNC wrote in its suit.

“The assertion is incompatible with nearly a century’s worth of Supreme Court precedent blessing Congress’s authority to insulate certain agencies and officials from day-to-day control by the president,” the lawsuit states.

“Congress’s authority is especially true in this context, where the credibility of the entire regulatory enterprise would be fatally undermined if the party controlling the White House can unilaterally structure campaign rules and adjudicate disputes to disadvantage its electoral competitors.”

This is the Democratic Party’s first lawsuit against Trump during his second term.

The White House has yet to respond.

Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday was magnitudes below presidential, as the United States leveraged the critical wartime meeting for measly political gain by defending Russian President Vladimir Putin while denigrating former American officials, including Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and California Senator Adam Schiff.

Before the American media, Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian president, repeatedly cutting Zelenskiy off from speaking while claiming he wasn’t grateful enough for American assistance.

But one question from a Ukrainian reporter about the potential for Russia to break a ceasefire arrangement seemed to really set Trump off.

“What if anything? What if a bomb drops on your head right now?” Trump said in response.

“They broke it with Biden, because Biden, they didn’t respect him. They didn’t respect Obama. They respect me,” Trump continued. “Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me.”

Trump then spoke at length about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, calling it a “phony witch hunt” and a “Democrat scam.” Fact check: The U.S. intelligence community determined that Russia did conduct a disinformation campaign to interfere in American democracy that year, and that the campaign was ordered directly by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Following a lengthy investigation, special counsel Robert Mueller determined that there was not enough evidence to bring collusion or conspiracy charges against Trump or his associates for benefiting from the foreign attack, though Mueller’s 448-page final report did not make a final determination on whether Trump had obstructed justice. In a letter following the report’s release, former Attorney General William Barr wrote that the report “does not exonerate” Trump.

The president then continued to rave about the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, which fell apart last year after Republicans’ star witness admitted that the story had been completely fabricated with help from top Russian officials.

Both points were made in defense of Putin, claiming that the Russian leader “had to put up with that.”

“He was being accused of all that stuff,” Trump continued. “All I can say is this, he might have broken deals with Obama and Bush, and he might have broken them with Biden. He did. Maybe, maybe he did. I don’t know what happened, but he didn’t break it with me.

“He wants to make a deal. I don’t know if you can make a deal,” he added, before turning to Zelenskiy.

“The problem is, I’ve empowered you to be a tough guy, and I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States, and your people are very brave, but you’re either going to make a deal or we’re out, and if we’re out, you’ll fight it out.

“I don’t think it’s going to be pretty, but you’ll fight it out, but you don’t have the cards, but once we sign that deal, you’re in a much better position, but you’re not acting at all thankful. And that’s not a nice thing. I’ll be honest. That’s not a nice thing,” Trump said, before adding that the whole fiasco was going to “make great television.”

Moments after the meeting, a statement was posted to Trump’s Truth Social account that described the meeting as “very meaningful” while practically wiping Ukraine out of ongoing negotiations to end the war.

“Much was learned that could never be understood without conversation under such fire and pressure,” Trump wrote. “It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations.

“I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace,” Trump said.

Russian forces crossed the Ukrainian border on February 24, 2022, which Putin tried to justify by falsely claiming that he needed to protect civilians in eastern Ukraine.

The U.S. and Russia opened discussions at a meeting in Saudi Arabia earlier this month, seeking a conclusion to the three-year war, but the assembly conspicuously excluded Ukrainian leadership.