{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-warren-continue-ethics-investigation-related-to-trumps-envoy-to-the-middle-east", "Murphy, Warren Continue Ethics Investigation Related to Trump\u2019s Envoy to the Middle East", "2025-11-18", "2025", "2025-11", "Democrat", "Senate", "CT", "Christopher Murphy", "M001169", "www.murphy.senate.gov", "chrismurphy", "https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON\u2014U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) today announced a continuation of their ethics investigation into U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and wrote to The White House and Office of Government Ethics (OGE) pushing for answers about inconsistencies in Witkoff\u2019s ethics disclosure forms and concerns related to a deal that gives the United Arab Emirates (UAE) enormous power to acquire U.S.-made A.I. chips.\n\nThe new letter continuing the investigation is vital \u201c(g)iven the sensitive nature of Mr. Witkoff\u2019s role and the scale of his conflicts.\u201d\n\nBefore his appointment to the role of Special Envoy, Witkoff partnered with the Trump family to launch World Liberty Financial (WLF), a cryptocurrency company. Later, as Special Envoy, Witkoff reportedly advocated to advance an export deal to send the world\u2019s most advanced A.I. chips to the UAE \u2014 a deal which was previously stalled due to national security concerns. Around the same time the deal was approved, a UAE government-backed firm \u201ceffectively handed World Liberty a $2 billion bank deposit\u201d by investing $2 billion in WLF\u2019s stablecoin.\n\n\u201c(This deal) appears to have aided a foreign power\u2019s effort to acquire U.S. technology with serious economic and national security implications \u2014 and he potentially did so in exchange for his personal financial benefit,\u201d wrote the senators.\n\nWitkoff\u2019s financial disclosure forms raise several issues, including that no agency ethics officials have signed the form or indicated that he is in compliance with ethics laws and regulations. Witkoff\u2019s form also lists June 30, 2025 as the date of his appointment as Assistant to the President and Special Envoy for Peace Missions and states that he held no other federal positions before filing his disclosure form. However, as early as January and February 2025, he was working in an official capacity, representing the Trump administration in high-level meetings in Saudi Arabia, announcing official travel to Gaza under the President\u2019s orders, and participating in diplomatic negotiations concerning Israel and Gaza.\n\nThe ethics disclosure form also does not make clear how large of an investment Witkoff currently has in the WLF crypto company or whether he has completely divested from the company. In May, WLF stated Witkoff was \u201cfully divesting\u201d and, months later, the White House said he was \u201cstill in the process of divesting.\u201d To date, Witkoff\u2019s ethics forms only make clear he divested $120 million in one of his holdings but does not specify which investment.\n\n\u201cThese issues are not mere technicalities. They obstruct the public\u2019s ability to understand the full scope of Mr. Witkoff\u2019s apparent conflicts of interest, and the extent to which they are ongoing,\u201d said the senators.\n\nMurphy and Warren asked the White House and OGE to, by December 1, 2025, explain why ethics officials have not signed off on Witkoff\u2019s ethics forms, whether Witkoff has fully divested from WLF, whether Witkoff has been issued ethics waivers related to his work in the administration, and any legal analysis the officials conducted about the UAE\u2019s investment in WLF and whether it was tied to the deal giving the country access to AI chips.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-warren-continue-ethics-investigation-related-to-trumps-envoy-to-the-middle-east"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2897311244159937, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}