Senate Democrats Demand Hearings on $500M Trump-UAE-World Liberty Financial Deal

Five senior Senate Democrats sent a formal letter to Republican committee chairs Tuesday demanding immediate hearings into a reported $500 million transaction in which Abu Dhabi royalty acquired a stake in World Liberty Financial, the crypto firm tied to President Donald Trump, and into the federal policy decisions that followed.

The letter states that lieutenants to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's national security adviser, secretly purchased a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial four days before Trump's January 2025 inauguration, with $218 million paid upfront to entities tied to the families of the president and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. The senators call the arrangement "unprecedented in American politics: a foreign government official taking a major ownership stake in an incoming U.S. president's company."

What the Senators Are Asking

Senators Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Gary Peters, Dick Durbin, and Ron Wyden told Republican committee chairs to "immediately hold hearings" and compel Trump administration officials to testify under oath about what they knew and when.

The lawmakers listed the events they say need scrutiny. Within months of the WLFI stake purchase, the Trump administration approved $1.4 billion in arms sales to the UAE, authorized the sale of 35,000 advanced AI chips to UAE firm G42 despite national security objections, and disbanded the Justice Department's National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team. UAE-backed MGX also acquired a stake in TikTok, despite Trump's stated preference for American ownership.

"We are deeply concerned about this series of events, which raise questions about what more the UAE may receive, or may have already received, at the expense of US national security after investing in the Trump family crypto company," the senators wrote.

"Trump Administration officials must explain under oath what they knew and when about payments to the families of the President and his lead diplomat for the region," they added.

Escalating Congressional Scrutiny

Tuesday's letter extends a pattern of Democratic pressure targeting World Liberty Financial's foreign entanglements. Warren urged Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in February to determine whether the Abu Dhabi stake qualified for a Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States review. Earlier this year, a separate Democratic group pressed Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins over the agency's decision to drop a fraud case against Justin Sun, a major World Liberty Financial backer.

The senate inquiry also follows the Binance thread. In early 2025, UAE-backed MGX invested $2 billion in Binance, with the funds to be paid in World Liberty Financial's USD1 stablecoin. Democratic Senators Peter Welch and Representative Dave Min subsequently launched a probe into Trump's pardon of Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao.

The Abu Dhabi stake in World Liberty Financial was first reported by the Wall Street Journal in early 2026. Trump has said he was not aware of the deal at the time it was signed.

Republicans Hold the Gavel

Whether hearings happen rests with the Republican chairs addressed in the letter. Republicans control the Senate and its committee agendas, so the Democrats' request is not a scheduling order. The senators addressed chairs of the Banking, Homeland Security, Judiciary, and Finance committees.

The Democrats framed their demand in terms of Congress's oversight function. "Congress has a responsibility to investigate the details of the reported investment and whether it influenced subsequent actions by President Trump and the Trump Administration," they wrote.

World Liberty Financial's USD1, the stablecoin at the center of several Abu Dhabi transactions, reached $4.85 billion in circulating supply as of June 22 after a 9.7% weekly expansion, a rapid climb that is now drawing parallel scrutiny from the senators pressing for hearings.