Tether’s friend in the White House

Good morning and welcome to White Home Watch. Steff will likely be again within the saddle on Tuesday. For right this moment, right here’s what’s on deck:

• Tether’s advocate within the White Home

• The US presidential transition and Syrian turmoil

• Mitch McConnell’s anti-isolationist plan

An incoming member of the US authorities is among the largest backers of cryptocurrency tether, although it has turn into the go-to digital asset for worldwide criminals, in keeping with legislation enforcement officers, prosecutors and up to date indictments.

Howard Lutnick, Donald Trump’s decide to guide the commerce division, has fiercely defended Tether, which pulled $5.2bn in income through the first half of 2024. Lutnick’s firm, the dealer Cantor Fitzgerald, took a stake in Tether whereas additionally managing a good portion of its reserves on its behalf.

Whereas talking at a Nashville crypto convention in July, Lutnick pointed to Tether’s founder as one of many few business gamers who may show he was operating a authentic enterprise. But amongst Tether’s customers are sanctions evaders, drug cartels, North Korean hackers, and Iranian and Russian spies.
Tether has rejected accusations that it facilitates world felony exercise, declaring that its use by criminals is so-called secondary market exercise the place unhealthy actors commerce its tokens between themselves.

It was really shortly after Lutnick’s remarks in Nashville that he was named co-chair of the Trump transition workforce, a task that offers him sway over administration positions, together with those who oversee crypto regulation. Trump has since nominated crypto advocate Paul Atkins to run the Securities and Change Fee. 

In the meantime, tether additionally continues to function commonly in worldwide felony instances. Regulation enforcement operations all over the world have proven tether being utilized by teams together with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Hamas and Hizbollah.

None of those considerations seem to have stopped Lutnick from hyping up Tether’s potential to rework world finance. He has defended Tether in an identical method to the scrappy type that outlined his rise in American finance and now politics.

Staff 47: who’s made the reduce

Trump introduced Andrew Ferguson as his alternative to switch Lina Khan as chair of the Federal Trade Commission.

Kari Lake, the TV anchor who had unsuccessful Senate run final month, was tapped for director of Voice of America. (AP)

The president-elect named his eldest son’s fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle the US ambassador to Greece. (BBC)

He additionally selected personal fairness govt Tom Barrack to be ambassador to Turkey. (Politico)

Transitional occasions: the most recent headlines

What we’re listening to

Since stepping down because the longest-serving Republican Senate chief in US historical past, Mitch McConnell has zeroed in on his mission for the ultimate two years of his time period: serving as a bulwark towards the isolationist wing of his social gathering.

That places him straight at odds with Trump and vice-president-elect JD Vance, who don’t want the US to spend any more cash on Ukraine.

“We’re in a really, very harmful world proper now, paying homage to earlier than world warfare two,” the 82-year-old stated in an interview with the Monetary Occasions. “Even the slogan is identical. ‘America First.’ That was what they stated within the ’30s.”

McConnell isn’t any fan of the as soon as and future president. In a brand new biography of the Kentucky lawmaker, he referred to as Trump “silly” and a “despicable human being”. However in this must-read interview [free to read], McConnell shared, for the primary time, that he voted for Trump final month — even when he couldn’t carry himself to talk his identify, merely saying:

“I supported the ticket.”

A technique McConnell may push again on Trump is thru the Senate affirmation course of for a few of his controversial nominees. McConnell declined to indicate his hand within the interview, rising testy beneath questioning about defence secretary decide Pete Hegseth, who has confronted sexual assault allegations.

“We’ll take every of the nominees as they arrive, and so they’ll undergo the vetting course of,” McConnell stated. “From an institutional standpoint, every of those nominees will likely be handled like others have for a pair hundred years.”

When pressed concerning the Russia-friendly Tulsi Gabbard, who Trump named as director of nationwide intelligence, McConnell responded:

“What number of occasions do we’ve got to say the identical factor again and again? You’re losing your time and mine too.”

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