John Oliver Returns to Expose Trump Family’s Shady Crypto Dealings: ‘We Badly Need Proper Guardrails’
The HBO host, whose contract is up at the end of 2026 — and whose parent company is facing a probable acquisition by Paramount Skydance, putting the lefty...
Key points
- The HBO host, whose contract is up at the end of 2026 — and whose parent company is facing a probable acquisition by Paramount Skydance, putting the lefty comedian directly in the crosshairs of a pro-Trump owner who’s already implemented a number of administration-friendly changes to CBS News — focused nearly the entirety of the show on President Trump, who’d previously called crypto “a disaster waiting to happen” that “may be fake” on Fox Business, but now refers to himself as “the first crypto president.” “Trump realized just how much money he personally could end up making from dealing with a speculative asset because it’s turned out to be a lot,” offered Oliver.
- In fact, crypto has become the family’s dominant business interest, overshadowing their real estate empire and every other business they have ever had.” Popular on Variety As Virginia Canter, a prominent ethics attorney, stated, “This is like a perfect vehicle to funnel money to [Trump] and his family to enrich them.” Oliver then broke down two of the Trump family’s main crypto ventures: his meme coins (or jokes converted into crypto that purely have novelty value) and World Liberty Financial.
- By the following December, Trump’s meme coin was down 92% in value while Melania’s was down 99%, but Trump walked away with $636 million.
- Trump even went as far as hosting an intimate private dinner for the 220 top holders of the Trump meme coin, thus offering “access to the White House in exchange for an investment in one of [Trump’s] crypto ventures,” reported The New York Times.
What happened
The HBO host, whose contract is up at the end of 2026 — and whose parent company is facing a probable acquisition by Paramount Skydance, putting the lefty comedian directly in the crosshairs of a pro-Trump owner who’s already implemented a number of administration-friendly changes to CBS News — focused nearly the entirety of the show on President Trump, who’d previously called crypto “a disaster waiting to happen” that “may be fake” on Fox Business, but now refers to himself as “the first crypto president.” “Trump realized just how much money he personally could end up making from dealing with a speculative asset because it’s turned out to be a lot,” offered Oliver. In fact, crypto has become the family’s dominant business interest, overshadowing their real estate empire and every other business they have ever had.” Popular on Variety As Virginia Canter, a prominent ethics attorney, stated, “This is like a perfect vehicle to funnel money to [Trump] and his family to enrich them.” Oliver then broke down two of the Trump family’s main crypto ventures: his meme coins (or jokes converted into crypto that purely have novelty value) and World Liberty Financial. By the following...
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