35,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips approved for a UAE AI company chaired by the same man who backed a $500 million stake in Donald Trump's family crypto venture. That is not a coincidence. It is the plot of a policy thriller that Senate Democrats want aired under oath.
Senators Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Gary Peters, Richard Durbin, and Ron Wyden sent a letter June 23 demanding immediate hearings on what they call "something unprecedented in American politics: a foreign government official taking a major ownership stake in an incoming U.S. president's company."
The Deal That Closed Before Inauguration
Four days before Trump took office in January 2025, lieutenants to Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan signed a deal buying 49% of World Liberty Financial for half a billion dollars. $218 million of that went upfront to entities tied to the Trump family and Steve Witkoff, Trump's lead Middle East and Russia diplomat. Sheikh Tahnoon is the UAE's National Security Advisor and also chairs G42, the UAE's state-linked AI company.
The investment did not stop there. MGX, a UAE state-backed investment firm, had already pumped capital into the Trump family's stablecoin, boosting its market cap by nearly $2 billion overnight. The pattern: foreign government money directly into the president's personal ventures.
The Chips That Followed
Within months of the deal, the Trump administration took a series of policy decisions that benefited the UAE. In May 2025, it approved a $1.4 billion arms sale to the country, despite congressional concerns about weapons reaching Sudanese armed groups. Treasury created a "Known Investor Pilot" program to fast-track CFIUS approvals, a program the UAE had lobbied for. Commerce rescinded Biden-era chip export restrictions, allowing the UAE to import triple or quadruple the previous volume of advanced chips.
The crown jewel: authorization for G42 to receive 35,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips, a deal worth over $1 billion. Here is the kicker. U.S. intelligence officials reportedly caught G42 providing U.S. technology that was used to enhance China's missile capabilities. G42 allegedly promised to divest its Chinese holdings but then moved them to a new investment firm to obfuscate the ties.
The Questions Under Oath
The senators want Trump administration officials to explain under oath what they knew about the payments to the families of the president and his lead diplomat. They also want to know how the administration will restore faith that it represents American interests rather than the president's personal interests.
CoinDesk reached out to World Liberty Financial and the UAE government for comment. Neither responded. But the paper trail is public: $500 million, 35,000 Blackwell chips, a $1.4 billion arms deal, and a fast-track CFIUS program. If you think crypto is just speculation, you missed the part where it becomes a conduit for foreign influence policy.
Source: Trump lands in Senate's crosshairs over $500 million UAE investment in his crypto venture
Domain: coindesk.com
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