Wealthy donors have long used campaign contributions to gain access to elected officials — but with key guardrails and oversight. U.S. law bars foreign money and prohibits politicians from using campaign funds for personal gain. What they're saying: "We've never had a president actually try to raise money and get people to buy an interest in a venture of his at the same time that he's sitting in the White House," Richard Painter, President George W. Bush's ethics lawyer, told Politico. Democrats have proposed at least five bills that would block activity like this, but none of them are likely to see action in a GOP-controlled Congress.

On Thursday night, 220 of the biggest investors in Donald Trump’s meme coin “$TRUMP” attended a private dinner at one of the President’s luxury golf courses in Virginia, raising serious concerns from critics about regulation of the crypto industry and murky access to the White House. The event has been billed by organizers as “the most exclusive invitation in the world.” The list of attendees for the dinner has been largely kept under wraps, but some estimates, like one from crypto analytics firm Nansen, say the top 220 investors spent upwards of $394 million to win the contest. The top 25 investors will receive a private tour of the White House and will be able to dine directly with the President, according gettrumpmemes.com, the official website of the President’s meme coin.

More than a hundred protestors waited for the US president outside his private country club in Northern Virginia as he arrived for the exclusive dinner on Thursday. The American leader dined out with some of the 220 investors in the $TRUMP meme coin at the Trump National Golf Club. He was said to have spoken to the guests, who in total had invested $148m into the $TRUMP meme coin, for about half an hour before dancing to the song YMCA. Meanwhile, demonstrators held signs outside that read "America is not for sale", "stop crypto corruption" and "release the list".