The State Department’s independent watchdog is reviewing a request from two Democratic senators to investigate whether Trump officials broke ethics rules in connection with deals involving the United Arab Emirates, according to correspondence shared with Semafor.
The department’s inspector general wrote to Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., this month confirming that it was evaluating their request for an investigation of the involvement by Trump aides Steve Witkoff and David Sacks in a decision to allow the export of advanced US-made chips to the UAE.
Witkoff and Sacks’ work on the issue drew scrutiny from the senators as a result of their reported financial ties to the UAE in the cryptocurrency space.
“The office owes Congress a full investigation,” Warren said in a statement, arguing the information is necessary for lawmakers as they consider potential ethics guardrails in cryptocurrency legislation.
Slotkin argued for the public release of any findings of the potential inspector general review.
“The public deserves to know the motivations of senior officials making international deals in their name. Our national security should never be for sale,” she said.
A representative for the inspector general’s office declined to comment on “investigative matters.”
The White House, which has said that the officials followed ethics rules, did not return a request for comment.