WASHINGTON — President Trump averted questions from reporters in regards to the swirling Jeffrey Epstein controversy Friday as he signed laws to higher regulate cryptocurrency to strengthen dollar-backed “stablecoins” that can be utilized for fast monetary transactions.
“The Genius Act, they named it after me,” Trump, 79, joked on the White Home East Room ceremony attended by Republican congressmen, administration leaders like crypto czar David Sacks and trade figures — together with the billionaire Winklevoss twins.
The invoice, which stands for Guiding and Establishing Nationwide Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, was sponsored by Sen. Invoice Hagerty (R-Tenn.) to modernize what Trump known as an oudated digital funds infrastructure.
Stablecoins enable customers to keep away from the volatility of cryptocurrencies resembling bitcoin, however would-be patrons presently should belief the phrase of suppliers who say they’re backed by real-world belongings resembling {dollars}.
The laws, which handed the Senate 68-30 final month and the Home 308-122 on Thursday, orders the institution of requirements and oversight to reinforce belief and client protections.
“It should unlock greenback dominance and replace archaic cost rails with a revolutionary system,” Sacks mentioned earlier than Trump inked the invoice.
Trump answered no reporter questions as his solely scheduled public occasion of the day ended — ignoring inquiries about why Manhattan federal prosecutor Maurene Comey was fired Wednesday and his demand late Thursday to launch grand jury testimony within the Epstein case.
Comey, who prosecuted Epstein’s co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell — securing a conviction and 20-year jail sentence — is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey and was fired after an explosion of public curiosity within the case.
Trump has raged for the second consecutive week about continued deal with the Epstein case — despite the fact that his personal officers, together with Legal professional Common Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, had revived the dormant controversy and teased explosive revelations, earlier than declaring final Monday that no further recordsdata could be disclosed.
In a shocking about-face, Bondi declared “no additional disclosure could be acceptable or warranted” and that there was “no incriminating ‘consumer listing,’” regardless of her prior remarks suggesting there was — including that regardless of “over one thousand victims” there was no “proof that would predicate an investigation in opposition to uncharged third events.”
The memo concluded Epstein died by suicide in his jail cell on Aug. 10, 2019, however a DOJ-released surveillance video taken from close to the cell was lacking one minute of footage.
Trump, who related socially with Epstein within the Nineties and early 2000s, has complained about continued curiosity within the case, accusing Democrats of perpetuating a hoax in opposition to him — despite the fact that his personal supporters initiated the transparency push beneath the idea that highly effective males had been being let off the hook for intercourse crimes in opposition to youngsters.
Former President Invoice Clinton, Prince Andrew and Microsoft founder Invoice Gates are among the many many outstanding figures who interacted with Epstein — and within the prince’s case, stand accused of partaking in intercourse with the disgraced financier’s younger victims.
