Trump White House had a secret crypto booster in Jared Kushner, new Mnuchin file dump shows

Trump White House had a secret crypto booster in Jared Kushner, new Mnuchin file dump shows

New documents show that one of former President Donald Trump's most trusted and senior advisors was secretly pushing for the White House to lean into crypto, well before skyrocketing crypto prices reignited mainstream interest in the space. In 2019, when crypto was in the midst of a multi-year bear market, Jared Kushner — a senior adviser and Trump's son-in-law — was quietly advocating for a U.S. digital dollar, in which the Fed would launch its own central bank digital currency. This is according to a 250-page dump of Secretary Steven Mnuchin's crypto-related e-mail correspondence from his four years at Treasury, which was through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Other insights include details surrounding the fight between the crypto lobby and Mnuchin over the Treasury's last-minute attempt at rolling out new rules pertaining to user-controlled digital wallets. Neither Mnuchin nor Kushner immediately responded to CNBC's request for comment about their crypto-related email exchanges. Kushner backs a digital dollar On May 29, 2019, Kushner, who was more known for his work on the administration's foreign policy efforts rather than fiscal matters, sent an e-mail to Mnuchin to suggest that a group be assembled to "have a brainstorm" about the topic