Reporter Presses Leavitt On Trump Meme Coin Event: Chance For Attendees To Influence' President?

At a White House press briefing on Friday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about President Trump's cryptocurrency.

Transcript

00:00So let's get to questions. Here in our new media seat today is Andrew Egger, the

00:04White House correspondent for The Bulwark. The Bulwark is a new media

00:07company launched in 2019 with hundreds of thousands of readers on Substack and

00:11more than a million subscribers on YouTube. Andrew, please kick us off. Thanks

00:14for being here. Thank you for having me, Caroline. The President posted another ad

00:18this week for his Trump meme coin. The group that's running that coin is

00:21encouraging people to buy in order to win a dinner this month with the

00:25President. Why is the President planning to attend a dinner for the top investors

00:28in this coin? Look, the President is abiding by all conflict of interest laws.

00:32The President has been incredibly transparent with his own personal

00:35financial obligation throughout the years. The President is a successful

00:39businessman, and I think, frankly, it's one of the many reasons that people

00:42reelected him back to this office. There are at least some people who are buying

00:45this coin who seem to view it as an opportunity to influence the

00:47President's views. There was a logistics company this week that said they would

00:50buy $20 million in the coin in order to advocate for free trade between the U.S.

00:54and Mexico. If buyers are buying for that reason, are they wasting their money?

00:57Look, I can assure you, the President acts with only the interests of the

01:01American public in mind, putting our country first and doing what's best for

01:04our country, full stop. That's his intention, and that's what he's focused on.

01:08Kristen, good to see you here.