The Wall Street Journal reported this weekend that a UAE-linked firm invested $500 million in January 2025 for a 49% stake in the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency company, with half the money upfront in a deal that reportedly “steered $187 million to Trump entities” and $31 million to entities tied to the President’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, New York real estate billionaire Steve Witkoff. Four months later, the Trump administration provided UAE with access to high-end American AI computer chips, access that had been restricted previously due to national security concerns.
CNBC’s Eamon Javers reported on Monday on social media: “In the Oval Office just now, I asked President Trump about the Wall Street Journal’s report that Abu Dhabi Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan backed a half billion dollar investment into his family’s World Liberty Financial crypto company last year.
“I asked why he accepted the money and whether it should have been disclosed. He said: ‘Well, I don’t know about it. I know that crypto is a big thing, and they like it. A lot of people like it. The people behind me like it. My sons are handling that. My family is handling it, and I guess they get investments from different people. But I’m not. I have all I can handle right now with Iran and with Russia and Ukraine and with all the things we’re doing.’”
In the Oval Office just now, I asked President Trump about the Wall Street Journal’s report that Abu Dhabi Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan backed a half billion dollar investment into his family’s World Liberty Financial crypto company last year. I asked why he accepted the… pic.twitter.com/PqnhL8Bdwg
— Eamon Javers (@EamonJavers) February 2, 2026
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), a major Trump critic, reacted with rage. He wrote: “A UAE investor secretly gave Trump $187 million and his top Middle East envoy $31 million. And then Trump gave that investor access to sensitive defense technology that broke decades of national security precedent. Brazen, open corruption. And we shouldn’t pretend it’s normal.”
As seen below on the Senate floor, Murphy said: “This was a case in which they knew it was so egregious, it was so wrong, that they did it in private.” The Senator unequivocally described the exchange of money and access to AI chips as corruption, suggesting a future in which a prosecution could ensue. “That is corruption,” he said. “Those are elements of a bribe. This is potentially criminal conduct.”
A UAE investor secretly gave Trump $187 million and his top Middle East envoy $31 million. And then Trump gave that investor access to sensitive defense technology that broke decades of national security precedent.
Brazen, open corruption. And we shouldn’t pretend it’s normal. pic.twitter.com/h3vvdQZ0yM
— Chris Murphy
(@ChrisMurphyCT) February 3, 2026
Acknowledging the unlikely prospects of Trump or Witkoff being held to account in the present political ecosystem, Murphy wrapped his warning in a prediction. “The rule of law may be suspended today,” the Senator said. “Republicans may not be willing to do anything about this corruption simply because the president is of your party. For now Trump and his friends may get away with these crimes and with this corruption, but the rule of law is coming back. And when it does, everyone who has greased their palms off government service, trading government favors for cash and violating the laws of this nation are going to jail.”