Senators confirmed a small tranche of nominees before leaving Washington until September without clinching a broader deal, teeing up a possible GOP rules change that would speed up confirmations.
But even that change might not help President Donald Trump’s nominee to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, who remains in limbo.
Allies of Brian Quintenz, who would oversee much of the administration’s crypto agenda if confirmed, rallied to insulate the former CFTC commissioner against pushback from the digital assets and gambling industries.
Quintenz’s current boss, Marc Andreessen, made calls on his behalf, a person familiar told Semafor. Two other people familiar said acting CFTC Chair Caroline Pham fanned opposition to Quintenz during multiple closed-door conversations in hopes of remaining atop the agency.
A CFTC spokesperson denied the claims, saying Pham “looks forward to” returning to the private sector when a new chair is confirmed.
“For the past seven months, Acting Chairman Pham has been focused on carrying out the President’s executive orders and getting the CFTC back to basics so future leadership can hit the ground running,” the CFTC spokesperson added. “Any claims to the contrary are simply false.”
The White House reiterated its support for Quintenz last week after Politico reported that Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss had urged the Trump administration to reconsider his nomination. But the White House did not give the Senate Agriculture Committee the formal go-ahead to reschedule a scrapped vote on his nomination, fueling speculation that officials were still mulling a pivot.
Pham and Summer Mersinger, another former CFTC commissioner, were among those in the running to chair Trump’s CFTC earlier this year. Mersinger is now the CEO of the Blockchain Association.
Burgess Everett contributed reporting.