House Democrats, led by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., walked out of a joint hearing of the Agriculture and Financial Services committees. Within seconds of Crypto Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., calling the meeting to order, Waters rose to object.
She was asked multiple times to explain her objection, and eventually said it was ‘because of the corruption of the president of the United States and his ownership of crypto and his oversight of all the agencies.’
Waters and the Democrats objected to the hearing based on concerns about President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency ventures, which include his meme coin and World Liberty Financial, according to the Hill. The congresswoman also expressed concerns about Trump’s family’s involvement in crypto, including his sons’ launch of a Bitcoin-mining company.
When Waters, who serves as ranking member of the Financial Services Committee, opened the ‘shadow hearing,’ she accused Republicans of ‘legitimizing’ Trump’s alleged ‘corruption.’
‘…our Republican colleagues refused to address the unprecedented conflicts of interest presented by President Donald Trump and his family. I am deeply concerned that Republicans aren’t just ignoring Trump’s corruption—they are legitimizing Trump’s and his family’s efforts to enrich themselves on the backs of average Americans. Through his crypto business, Trump has turned the office of the presidency into a personal moneymaking machine,’ Waters said in her opening remarks. She later went on to accuse Trump of undermining democracy.
Waters also criticized Trump’s creation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, which she claimed was a method of using taxpayer resources to boost the value of the president’s cryptocurrency.
The Democrats’ hearing featured a panel that included Chastity Murphy,, a former economic policy advisor for Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Timothy Massad, director of the Digital Assets Policy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School; and Mark Hays, associate director for Cryptocurrency and Financial Technology at Americans for Financial Reform.
The three panelists largely criticized Trump and Republicans’ handling of the cryptocurrency industry. However, they all emphasized the need for stronger regulation—a topic that was intended to be the focus of the original joint hearing.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., responded to Waters’ objection to the hearing with a statement.
‘Committee Republicans on Financial Services and the House Committee on Agriculture will continue to work with legislators on both sides of the aisle who are serious about creating a lasting framework that protects Americans, encourages innovation, and brings digital asset leadership back to the U.S.’
On Monday, the Financial Services Committee released a discussion draft of a bill to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets in the U.S. The committee is looking to lay out ‘clear regulations’ for the industry and prevent ‘bad actors’ from thriving.
‘By providing strong safeguards and long-overdue regulatory certainty, the discussion draft advances President Trump’s vision to make the U.S. the ‘crypto capital of the world’ and reinforces America’s leadership in the global financial system,’ the committee’s one-pager reads.