{"id":850987,"date":"2025-05-25T09:12:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T14:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/25\/trump-used-presidential-seal-at-meme-coin-dinner-despite-white-house-saying-he-was-there-on-personal-time\/"},"modified":"2025-05-25T09:12:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T14:12:14","slug":"trump-used-presidential-seal-at-meme-coin-dinner-despite-white-house-saying-he-was-there-on-personal-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/25\/trump-used-presidential-seal-at-meme-coin-dinner-despite-white-house-saying-he-was-there-on-personal-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Used Presidential Seal At Meme Coin Dinner-Despite White House Saying He Was There On ‘Personal Time’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Topline<\/h2>\n

President Donald Trump spoke to investors of his $TRUMP meme coin from a lectern adorned with the presidential seal at Trump National Golf Club Thursday\u2014despite a federal law prohibiting it from being used in a way that erroneously suggest federal sponsorship.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump departs the White House on May 22, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump is traveling … More<\/span> to his Trump National Golf Club in Virginia where he is holding a dinner for the top investors in his $TRUMP cryptocurrency. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/fbs-accordion>Getty Images<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Key Facts<\/h2>\n
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The seal can\u2019t be used in a way that could \u201cconvey a false impression of sponsorship of approval by the government,\u201d according to federal law, which says violations can be penalized by a fine or up to six months in jail.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Trump spoke to the top 220 investors of his meme coin at his Virginia golf club after flying there from the White House on a military helicopter.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u201cThe past administration made your lives miserable,\u201d Trump told the attendees, referring to crypto regulations under Biden, according to The New York Times<\/a>, adding, \u201cwe\u2019re honored to be working on helping everybody here.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected conflict-of-interest concerns about the dinner, telling reporters Thursday when asked if the administration would release the guest list that, \u201cthe president is attending it in his personal time, it is not a White House dinner, it\u2019s not taking place here at the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forbes has reached out to the White House about the seal being used at the dinner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Big Number<\/h2>\n

$148 million. That\u2019s the total amount invested in $TRUMP coin by the investors who attended the dinner, according to the Wall Street Journal<\/a>, citing Inca Digital analytics firm.<\/p>\n

Chief Critic<\/h2>\n

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said<\/a> during a Foreign Relations Committee hearing this week the dinner was a way for \u201cforeign individuals of significant influence and wealth to be able to directly lobby the President of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tangent<\/h2>\n

The seal has been used as golf markers in at least five other Trump golf clubs, Forbes reported<\/a> previously.<\/p>\n

Key Background<\/h2>\n

Trump\u2019s meme coin is among several crypto ventures he\u2019s launched since his first term in the White House, when he was a skeptic of the industry. The meme coin traded as high as $74.34 shortly after its debut in January, and fell to $14.44 on Thursday. Guests at Thursday\u2019s dinner included Chinese crypto billionaire Justin Sun<\/a>, the top investor in $TRUMP coins, former NBA player Lamar Odom, Korean crypto executive Sangrok Oh and Taiwanese crypto executive Vincent Liu, according to The New York Times<\/a>. The top 25 investors were invited to a pre-dinner reception and tour. Sun, who runs the crypto platform Tron and spent more than $40 million on $TRUMP coins, also spoke at the dinner. Sun\u2014who was sued for fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2023\u2014also invested $75 million in the Trump family\u2019s World Liberty Financial. The regulator paused litigation shortly after Trump took office.<\/p>\n

Further Reading<\/h2>\n

Trump Hosts Meme Coin Dinner\u2014What We Know About The Exclusive Crypto Gathering<\/a> (Forbes)<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s New Partner For Crypto Venture Is KuCoin \u2014 An Exchange Banned In U.S., Fined $300 Million For Money Laundering<\/a> (Forbes)<\/p>\n

How Trump\u2019s Bitcoin Policies Are Making The U.S. A Crypto Superpower <\/a>(Forbes)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Sara Dorn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Topline President Donald Trump spoke to investors of his $TRUMP meme coin from a lectern adorned with the presidential seal at Trump National Golf Club Thursday\u2014despite a federal law prohibiting it from being used in a way that erroneously suggest federal sponsorship. President Donald Trump departs the White House on May 22, 2025 in Washington<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":850988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[300,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-850987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-presidential","category-trump"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=850987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/850988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}